Best Solar Panel Installation Companies in California - CNET

Going solar in California could be worth it, even with the state's new net metering rules.

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AMD announced its answer to Nvidia’s DLSS 3 with Frame Generation graphics technology back in 2022, officially dubbed FSR 3 graphics scaling with Fluid Motion Frames technology. AMD had gone into great detail on FSR’s progress since then during its GDC 2023 presentation to developers in March, detailing the progress from version 1 to its current version 3.

According to a new report from YouTube channel Moore's Law is Dead (reported on by PC Gamer), the technology will be launching in September 2023. It seems that the tech giant will release FSR 3 with Fluid Motion to tie into its new RDNA 3 graphics cards. And considering that CEO Lisa Su herself confirmed the imminent arrival of RDNA 3 during AMD’s earnings call for the Q2 fiscal, this only bolsters the rumor’s porobability even more.

This launch is especially important to AMD, as Frame Generation tech in Team Green’s graphics cards gives it a huge advantage over Team Red, since gamers can see the noticeable improvement in resolution and gamplay frames per second. We’ll see for certain if the FSR tech can match DLSS 3 Frame Generation if this report turns out to be true.

Will AMD finally catch up? 

Nvidia’s Frame Gen uses AI-enhanced hardware  to upscale resolution by creating new frames and inserting them between already rendered GPU frames. Though this improves the fluidity and visual smoothness of games during the rendering process, it also has the drawback of increasing latency and input lag.

Meanwhile, both DLSS and FSR improve framerate and latency. And though matching DLSS was enough for AMD until now, as its FSR tech is quite competitive in resolution scaling, the fact that it had no answer for Nvidia’s Frame Gen created a huge gap between the graphics card manufacturers in terms of gaming frame rates.

But now with Fluid Motion rolling out with FSR 3, Team Red has a shot to truly compete with Team Green, as long as said tech is fully ready by September. Otherwise, AMD will spend another generation playing catch-up, which would be especially diffilcult for AMD considering that Nvidia controls so much of the graphics card market share.

AMD does have a chance, though, as we’ve seen how much FSR 2 closed the gap between it and DLSS 2.0, Nvidia's previous version  of its upscaling technology. Hopefully Team Red does it again, as healthy competition between these two giants is something that always benefits consumers.

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An AI Helped Me Find Running Shoes for the NYC Marathon. Here's How It Worked - CNET

With my first marathon less than 100 days away, I gave artificial intelligence a go in hopes of finding the perfect trainers.

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Wacom is back with four new mid-range drawing tablets for fledgling digital artists: the One S, One M, One 12, and the One 13 touch. The first two are your traditional pen tablets while the others feature a screen similar to an iPad.

Measuring 152 x 95mm (6 x 3.7 inches), the Wacom One S is your quintessential entry-level device. It features 4K pressure sensitivity, meaning the tablet can tell, with a high degree of accuracy, if you’re drawing a thick or thin line by the amount of force you’re using. The company states the model recognizes “natural tilt” so you can hold your stylus at an angle to achieve certain effects. Speaking of styluses, the One S comes with a pen sporting two programmable buttons for assigning keyboard shortcuts. You can connect the tablet to your computer via Bluetooth, but if you prefer a wired connection, the package does come with a USB-C cable.

(Image credit: Wacom)

The Wacom One M is essentially the same thing as the One S; albeit bigger, measuring 216 x 135mm (8.5 x 5.3 inches). They’re both paper thin, clocking in at 7.9mm (less than an inch) thick.

These tablets are currently available for purchase. The Wacom One S retails for $69.95 (£55.99/$99 AUD) whereas the One M sells for $109.95 (£106/$199 AUD). You can purchase third-party stylus pens from LAMY and STAEDTLER at the checkout if you prefer those. However, good luck getting your hands on either of them. At the time of this writing, they are completely sold out across the US, UK, and Australia. 

No word on when they'll come back.

Display tablets

As for Wacom One 12 and One 13 touch, they have most of the same features as the drawing tablets, except, of course, their respective screens. 

The One 12 sports a 295 mm (11.6-inch) Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixel) resolution display covering 99 percent of the sRGB color space. The glass has been touched up with an anti-glare and anti-fingerprint coating for optimal clarity. Wacom also claims the display has no parallax which is the distance between the tip of a stylus and a line on-screen. Like the 4K pressure sensitivity, zero parallax ensures a high level of accuracy.

The One 13 touch has everything we just mentioned with two key differences, although you can probably guess what they are. First, the display is larger, measuring 13.3 inches across. Second, it’s a touchscreen supporting “ten-finger multi-touch gestures [for] intuitive use”. Both of the higher-end models are, at 11.5mm thick, a bit heftier than their smaller counterparts.

You can buy the Wacom One 12 for $299.95 (£293.99/$499 AUD) with optional accessories at checkout. The Wacom One 13 touch, like the traditional tablets, is sold out in the US, UK, and Australia. When it comes back, you can buy it for $499.95 (£484/$849 AUD). Everything in this lineup is compatible with Windows, macOS, Android, as well ChromeOS.

These products are meant for beginners. If you want something more high-end, check out TechRadar’s list of the best drawing tablets for 2023. 

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Take Up to 30% Off (Or More) Sitewide at Xtrema Cookware During Its Summer Sizzle Sale - CNET

Upgrade your kitchen with handcrafted, non-toxic ceramic cookware from Xtrema Cookware at a deep discount.

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Timberline Solar by GAF Energy Review: A Solid Solar Roof Option - CNET

The largest roofing manufacturer in the US offers one of the best solar roof options. Here's what you get from GAF Energy.

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This week's Netflix top 10 movies list has a surprisingly low-rated entry at number one: Jackie Chan's new action flick Hidden Strike. The film debuted on the best streaming service on July 28 but has been called a flop by critics – it has just a 15% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Despite the lacklustre reception, the movie has more than 10 times the views than the second most-watched film of the week: Happiness for Beginners. Again, this romantic comedy doesn't have the best rating and it doesn't get much better with number three on the list – Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, the Movie. 

Although the new documentary Poisoned: The Dirty Truth About Your Food bucks the low scoring trend, there are much better films currently streaming on Netflix that are more worth your time.

We've rounded up four of the best Netflix movies below, one of which has been in the top 10 most-watched movies list for the past three weeks on the trot since its debut. If you don't see anything that interests you though, try checking our new Netflix movies list for more.          

They Cloned Tyrone

They Cloned Tyrone is the unusual sci-fi comedy movie that Netflix subscribers can't get enough of right now – it has been one of the most popular movies on the platform since it premiered. This satirical sci-fi mystery is a Stranger Things meets Get Out meets Don't Look Up type movie that is bound to surprise you at every twist and turn.

It's about an unlikely trio that investigate a series of eerie events that end up leading to a big conspiracy that goes all the way to the top. As we pointed out in our exclusive interview with the show's star John Boyega, Netflix breaks every genre rule in the best way possible with They Cloned Tyrone and completely flips cinema stereotypes on their head. 

Available to stream on Netflix in the US, UK and Australia. 

The Departed 

When we ranked every Martin Scorsese movie from worst to best, this wasn't put at the top of the list but that doesn't mean you should ignore The Departed. It's by far one of the best crime dramas around, with top performances from the likes of Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

It's similar to classics like Gangs of New York and Training Day in that it blurs the line between organised crime gangs and police forces in a way that will have you questioning who's right and wrong. Centred around an Irish gang, it follows an undercover cop and a mole as they play cat and mouse to find each other out.    

Available to stream on Netflix in the US and Australia, and on Channel 4 in the UK.  

The Karate Kid

It's always great when classics such as this one get resurfaced on streaming platforms. While it's the 2010 remake that features Jackie Chan as the kung fu sensei, the original 1984 film is the better one out of the two to watch in our opinion – it still holds up today. 

The plot is fantastically simple: a teenager learns karate from a martial arts teacher. And this is where the success of the franchise lies and why it has since been rebooted – even with a TV spin-off called Cobra Kai. Classic stories like it and Stand By Me, for instance, have a moral-led narrative behind them that make them timeless.  

Available to stream on Netflix in the US and UK, and on Paramount Plus in Australia.  

Annihilation

This dystopian sci-fi, which is also psychological thriller, wasn't the most popular movie with audiences, but don't let that dissuade you. Alex Garland's adaptation of a series of books by Jeff VanderMeer is a great reimagining of the story and completely comes to life on screen. 

Annihilation stars Natalie Portman as a biologist who leads an expedition into a patch of forest and coastline that has become enveloped by a mysterious other-worldly barrier. The movie is cinematically stunning and tackles themes such as self-identity and environmentalism. 

Available to stream on Netflix in the US, UK and Australia.

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GM Says Bidirectional Charging Will Come Standard Across Its EV Lineup - CNET

Vehicle-to-home, or V2H, technology allows a parked EV to power your house during a power outage.

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You May Lose Apple Support on Your iPhone Next Month. Find Out Here - CNET

Some iPhone users won't get to download the new iOS 17 update on their phones.

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Apple may have turned around the fortunes of its upcoming M3 line of chips after reportedly securing an entire year's worth of scarce 3nm silicon from TSMC.

It seems that Apple managed to secure TSMC’s entire stock of 3nm chips for a full year, according to Wccftech, who reports that these 3nm chipsets “will be found in various devices, starting with the A17 Bionic for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, followed by the M3.” Apple M3 chip production will cover the entire M3 lineup, including the M3 Pro, M3 Max, and M3 Ultra chips for high-end Mac devices and Mac Studio and Mac Pro models.

Earlier rumors stated that Apple had roughly 90% of TSMC's 3nm capacity locked down, which still provided some space for competitors to secure the remaining supply, but it looks like the competition will have to wait. Not to mention that the tech giant won’t have to pay for defective wafers, which could save it billions of dollars.

TSMC has a few versions of its 3nm technology, with Apple getting the N3B batch while other companies like Qualcomm and MediaTek will most likely pick up N3E. Meaning that while Apple may have a time advantage over its competitors, it could lose that just as easily.

M3 MacBook could be coming, but should it? 

If this rumor proves to be true, Apple could be putting out M3 MacBooks as early as the end of 2023 or early 2024. Most of the world is still getting over from the global chip shortage, with AMD’s new Z1-series processors being delayed due to manufacturing struggles, and Intel reportedly canceling two new projects with TSMC.

Of course, Apple managing to acquire a year’s worth of 3nm shipments is only one piece of the puzzle. Computing sales as a whole are in decline due to the global economic downturn as well as worker shortages, and Apple is one of many tech manufacturers that have been struggling in this current market trend.

So while this rumor could end up being great news for Apple, it could also lead to M3-based iPhones and Mac products not selling well in the future, especially considering how many devices the company has pushed out in the past couple of years. I, for one, hope that anything equipped with an M3 chip comes out in late 2024, for the sake of breathing spaces alone.

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3D TV has an abysmal history, possibly only matched by 3D gaming (I see you Nintendo 3DS) but maybe it was the wrong technology at the wrong time. That's certainly Magnetic3D's hope as the company prepares to bring its glasses-free lenticular-powered 3D televisions to consumers.

Lenticular technology is one of the oldest forms of 3D image generation, one that goes back to those 3D postcards that could take a 2D image of Mount Rushmore and seemingly show you other angles of it as you moved from side to side.

Magnetic3D, which recently showed me a 55-inch glasses-free 3D TV, is using a far more sophisticated version of the display tech that, as Tom Zerega, Magnetic3D CEO & founder, and John Bracciante, company COO, told me, puts the typically vertical lenticular bands at a 45-degree angle and takes advantage of subpixels. 

Seeing is believing

When I first encountered the TV sitting at eye-level on a pedestal, I didn't see any 3D effect. That's because I was viewing it from an extreme (beyond 140-degree) angle, but as I circled around to the front of the screen, the 3D imagery took shape. I saw fish, abstracts, basketball players, and a basketball that appeared to leave the boundaries of the screen (they did this nice effect using large black borders at the top and bottom of the image). It was, in a word, impressive.

There were artifacts in the 4K, roughly 80lb 3D TV. There's no eye-tracking here (future models may have it) so as my eyes moved around the screen, I could almost see the lenticular image degrading into disconnected image bands. But this was rare and most of it held up pretty well.

Bracciante told me the best viewing experience is between 8 and 15 ft away from the screen.

(Image credit: Future)

Magnetic3D has been selling its specific brand of 3D TV for retailers and commercial use but now it hopes to inspire consumers to come back to the 3D side. They're marketing sets that run from 43 inches to 65 inches, the latter being what I consider the sweet spot for modern consumer UHD viewing.

They also hope to sell the sets for $10,000, at the low end, and roughly $20,000 at the 65-inch level (prices include a custom frame and some 3D content to stare at). I'm not sure if Zerega or Bracciante noticed me blanch. The best TVs, think real cutting-edge models, often start in the $2,000 - to - $4,000 range. No one is ponying up $10,000 for a set.

We talked a bit about the history of 3D TV and how 15 years ago consumers showed an extreme lack of interest in buying sets marketed solely as 3D TVs, as opposed to TVs that offered, among many other things, 3D viewing capabilities.

Content, content, content

They didn't argue when I said one of the big hurdles, aside from price, would be content. Few are buying 8K TVs because there is no content. The explosion of 4K streaming content has no doubt helped propel the mass consumption of 4K TVs. Not only is there a dearth of 3D content, the only way you can currently get the right kind of 3D content on Magnetic 3D's set is via a USB stick. The company is working on an app.

All that said, something Bracciante said stuck with me. People could use these sets to show off their NFTs (non-fungible tokens, which are often pieces of digital art tied to unique tokens, and that can be bought, sold, and traded). I'm not into NFTs and think they're part of a crypto bubble, but I know many who love them, own them and, yes, even want to show them off.

Magnetic3D screen technology on a tablet. (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

If you look at Magnetic3D's expensive 3D sets as display centers for digital works of art and NFTs that you own, there might be something there. Granted, this is a niche market with money to spare (they bought NFTs, after all) but it is an avenue.

I don't know if anyone will buy these sets, but the imagery is exciting and unusual and for some, that might be enough.

Before I left, Zerega pulled a small tablet out of his pocket and handed it to me. I stared at the 7-inch display dumbfounded as purple blobs appeared to leap off the screen. It was one of the better glasses-free handheld 3D experiences I'd ever had, and I've been looking at 3D handheld technology for more than a decade. Zerega said this little tablet was the company's calling card and, I must admit, I kind of get it.

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Best Hotel Credit Cards for August 2023 - CNET

Use a hotel credit card with your favorite hotel brand to turn its rewards into night stays.

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One of the best VPN services on the market, now comes at an absolute bargain, offering a special discount and some tasty freebies to get even more VPN protection at no extra cost.

Perhaps the biggest name in the industry, NordVPN has just dropped its price of 68% off its longest plan. This means that users can now get a 2-year subscription for the equivalent of about $3 per month.

The deal doesn't end here, though. Even at this tiny price, Nord adds 3 months of VPN protection at no extra cost on top, so you'll enjoy 27 months of better privacy and internet freedom for the same discounted price.

This limited-time deal is available for 5 weeks, ending on September 12, 2023. This is the best price you can find for NordVPN anywhere right now—so make sure not to miss it! Below are more details about this generous offer.

NordVPN limited-time deal: 2-year plan | from $3.19 per month | Save 68%

Subscribe now to NordVPN's two-year plan to get the best value for money on the world's most popular VPN. A 68% discount and 3 months FREE means that you can get 27 months of VPN protection for only about $86 all-in (the equivalent of just $3.19 per month). To claim the offer, just follow the link on this page. The deal ends on September 12, so don't leave it too late or you could end up paying more later.  View Deal

What makes this NordVPN deal so good?

There are quite a few reasons why NordVPN is, perhaps, the most popular Virtual Private Network (VPN) on the market right now.

A strict no-logs policy and plenty of reliable security features, for example, protect your online privacy and data against cybercriminals and snooping third parties. Plus, it comes with a host of extras, like malware protection, an ad-blocker, Double VPN encryption, and the latest addition, Meshnet, which helps keep your network safe while helping you simultaneously unblock content from around the world.

Subscribe if:

✔️ You want an all-in-one security suite: your subscription comes with ad-blocking and malware protection as standard.

✔️ Streaming Netflix is your primary use case: NordVPN currently tops our list as the best VPN for Netflix, so you can access streams anywhere in the world.

✔️ You want a blend of quality and cost: plenty of features, amazing speeds, and additional security tools, all at a competitive price point.

In terms of performance, NordVPN won't let you down either. During our last round of testing, the provider improved its speeds even further, getting among the fastest VPNs with peaks of over 950 Mbps when connected to its WireGuard-based NordLynx protocol. 

Its huge array of international servers (more than 5,500 across 80 locations worldwide) are designed to deliver great unblocking power to bypass any type of online restrictions. It reached a 100% unblocking record in our last tests. This also makes NordVPN the perfect streaming VPN, unblocking foreign catalogs on basically all the platforms available. These include Netflix, BBC iPlayer, ITV, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus.

Anyone interested in protecting their login details with one of the best password managers will be happy to know that the provider just dropped the price for NordPass, too. At the time of writing, it costs the equivalent of just $1.99 per month for the 1-year and $1.49 per month for the 2-year personal plans. 

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Don’t Skip These Security Features When Shopping Around for a New Bank Account - CNET

Multifactor authentication and more – here’s what to look for as you search for a bank that can keep your information as safe as possible.

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Samsung to Roll Out 50 Specialized Galaxy Smartphone Repair Service Centers This Year - CNET

The first repair shops soft launched this summer.

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