Best Internet Providers in Idaho

Take a look at our experts' choices for the top internet providers in the state of Idaho.

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Latest Tech News

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• New leaked pictures seemingly show a Hasselblad X2D II top plate
• The camera will likely be an iterative X2D 100C upgrade
• It could be the camera Hasselblad registered with the FCC in December 2024

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If I could have one camera, money no object, the Hasselblad X2D 100C would probably be it. However, I might soon be adding a 'II' to that moniker, following leaks of my dream camera's upcoming successor.

The folks at Photo Rumors shared a post containing a Hasselblad FCC registration for product 'HB722', dated December 4, 2024, followed by a photo that seemingly shows a top plate of an X2D II camera, leading us to believe the upcoming product could be a X2D successor, and that it's coming soon.

The current model is a 100MP medium-format camera with stunning minimalist design and stripped-back user experience. I loved reviewing the camera when it launched in 2022, but an upgrade could deliver meaningful improvements

Yes, the X2D 100C floats my boat, but that doesn't make it the perfect camera.

The next model, seemingly being called a X2D II, suggests an iterative update – I'd expect a major upgrade to be called an X3D instead. However, that's pure speculation, and there's no leaked specs to go off, yet.

I'd be all for a new Hasselblad camera, be it a modest or substantial upgrade. Here are the top 5 upgrades I'm hoping for.

I hope the X2D 100C's successor has largely the same design – it's a stunning camera to look at and to use. (Image credit: Future)

Getting up to speed

I've no complaints with the X2D 100C's image quality – its 100MP stills are packed full of detail and divine natural color. A higher-resolution sensor next time around would grab headlines, but I don't think it's necessary, or likely.

Nor would I change much of anything design-wise; the grip provides a firm hold whether shooting in vertical or horizontal format, there's a lovely balance with most lenses, while the minimalist control layout and menus give you quick access to the settings you use the most, doing away with the rest.

If image quality and form factor are fine as they are, what would I change? My desired upgrades largely center on focusing and speed.

First and foremost, I'd love a precise subject detection autofocus mode, specifically people autofocus with eye detection. The X2D 100C features Hasselblad's best-ever autofocus system, but it's still years behind the best mirrorless cameras from Sony, Canon, Nikon and more.

Autofocus precision is key, especially given the huge 100MP files that further highlight poor user technique / camera limitations. Being armed with reliable eye detection AF would make photoshoots way more relaxed.

Focusing on this occasion for this portrait taken with the X2D 100C is precise, but I found myself constantly second guessing if focusing is where I want it to be. (Image credit: Future)

In addition to precise autofocus, I'd also like autofocus to be significantly faster and reliable. Not that I would plan on using the X2D 100C for sports and wildlife photography, but speedier focusing for portraits would be appreciated.

While we're on the subject of speed, the X2D 100C's continuous burst shooting is limited to just 3.3fps. Understandable given the huge file sizes, but Fujifilm's rival GFX100 II goes at more than double that speed. Again, I'm not shooting action with a medium-format camera, but I would like the option there for faster frame rates, especially for portrait sessions.

Quicker burst shooting could also power a usable high-res shot mode – the type you get with smaller format cameras to quadruple resolution. Imagine a 400MP file from a Hasselblad!

Landscape photography is an obvious strength of a 100MP medium-format camera, for which better weather-sealing and improved battery life could be really useful in a future X2D II – I wasn't overly impressed by the X2D 100C on those two fronts.

Video recording is completely absent in the X2D 100C. Again, I wouldn't naturally think of using such a camera for video work, but when I think about how stunning Hasselblad's color science is for stills, the prospect of 8K video with such gorgeous color is exciting.

To summarize: a faster processor, precise and speedier autofocus, refined handling, and video recording. Those asks amount to a modest and entirely doable upgrade. More lenses are always welcome, too.

Have you experienced the Hasselblad X2D 100C? If so, what improvements would you like to see? Let me know in the comments below.

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Latest Tech News

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• Microsoft warns of new version of the XCSSET infostealer
• It comes with new obfuscation, infection, and persistence techniques
• It was seen in "limited" attacks in the wild

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A new variant of a known macOS malware is making rounds on the internet, targeting users through infected Xcode projects.

Researchers from the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team said that the modular malware is seen in “limited attacks” at this time, but suggested that people should still keep their guard up.

According to the researchers, this is the first upgrade to XCSSET in three years. It now has enhanced obfuscation methods, updated persistence mechanisms, and new infection strategies.

Scrutinize Xcode projects

“These enhanced features add to this malware family’s previously known capabilities, like targeting digital wallets, collecting data from the Notes app, and exfiltrating system information and files,” Microsoft said.

Microsoft first reported of this new XCSSET strain in mid-February this year, and has now come forward with an in-depth analysis.

Xcode is Apple's official integrated development environment (IDE) for creating apps on macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and tvOS. It includes a code editor, debugger, Interface Builder, and tools for testing and deploying apps.

In essence, XCSSET is an infostealer. It is capable of pulling system information and files, stealing digital wallet data, and grabbing information from the official Notes app.

For obfuscation, XCSSET now uses a “significantly more randomized approach” for generating payloads to infect Xcode projects. When it comes to updated persistence mechanisms, the new variant uses two techniques: “zshrc”, and “dock”. Finally, for infection, there are now new methods for where the payload is placed in a target Xcode project.

“Users must always inspect and verify any Xcode projects downloaded or cloned from repositories, as the malware usually spreads through infected projects,” the company concluded. “They should also only install apps from trusted sources, such as a software platform’s official app store.”

The in-depth analysis of the malware and its modus operandi can be found on here.

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Latest Tech News

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• The beta version 2.25.7.7 of WhatsApp for Android includes a feature that groups related messages into a thread.
• This could make parsing sprawling chats far easier.
• I'm glad that it looks like a practical feature rather than an AI tool.

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While companies are falling over themselves to add AI tools to all manner of products and services, WhatsApp seems to be treading a different path, with the messaging service looking to add a feature that groups specific replies to messages into a thread rather than showing them as disparate responses.

This news comes courtesy of WABetaInfo, which spotted the feature in the beta version 2.25.7.7 of WhatsApp for Android. Such betas usually offer a strong indication of what features users can expect to see rolled out in future WhatsApp updates.

In effect, this new feature looks set to be an easy way to track messages that relate back to each other.

Currently, WhatsApp only lets users reply to a single message in isolation. If, like me, you have friends who seem to discuss multiple topics at once, and you’re like me and ask a lot of questions or have thoughts about those different topics, then keeping track of particular elements of a convoluted WhatsApp chat can be a nightmare.

So what might seem like a small upgrade to WhatsApp could be a godsend for folks like me. It’s also gratifying that WhatsApp is looking at a feature that has a tangible real-world use, rather than adding generative AI elements to smoosh emojis together or change the tone of a message – tone never communicates well in text anyway.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before, as iPhone users will be familiar with message threads in the default Messages app in iOS. But Apple's implementation isn’t perfect, so if WhatsApp can create a more elegant take, then I’m all for it.

Exactly when this threads feature will actually roll out to WhatsApp users isn’t clear. It might appear soon, or it could take a few more updates for WhatsApp to get it right, and working smoothly across Android and iOS.

For now it’s a case of watch this space, but I’m crossing my fingers that the update will come sooner rather than later, before certain friends drive me mad with too many points and subjects crammed into a blast of messages.

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Latest Tech News

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• Bolt Graphics unveils Zeus GPU, targeting rendering, HPC, and gaming
• Claims include 10x faster rendering, 6x FP64, 300x simulation gains
• Zeus supports up to 2.25TB memory, 6x 800GbE, 8x PCIe Gen5

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Bolt Graphics has announced what it says is the fastest graphics processor ever, which is quite the claim.

Based in Sunnyvale, California, the semiconductor startup says Zeus has a “completely new GPU design for high-performance workloads including rendering, HPC, and gaming” and that it “addresses performance, efficiency, and functionality limitations with legacy GPUs.”

Bolt Graphics adds Zeus offers up to 10 times faster rendering, 6 times higher FP64 HPC performance, and up to 300 times faster electromagnetic wave simulation speeds compared to legacy GPUs.

Stunning path tracing performance

It supports expanded memory through Bolt’s architecture, allowing up to 384GB per PCIe card and up to 2.25TB per Zeus unit in a 2U server, with rack configurations reaching 180TB. Zeus also integrates 400 GbE and 800 GbE Ethernet interfaces directly into the GPU, reduces energy use despite the higher performance, and will be available in PCIe, server, and cloud form factors.

"Zeus increases performance while simultaneously reducing power consumption," said Darwesh Singh, Founder and CEO of Bolt Graphics. "I'm proud of the Bolt team's dedicated effort to create a solution that addresses key customer pain points, enabling them to be more productive and bring their ideas to life."

Slides published by ServeTheHome show Zeus is based on a RISC-V RVA23 out-of-order scalar core and there are a number of different architectures.

The Zeus 1c26-032 is a single-chiplet design and supports DisplayPort 2.1a and HDMI 2.1b, along with an RJ45 BMC port - typically seen on DPUs, servers, and other infrastructure components. There’s also a QSFP-DD port for 400GbE and two PCIe Gen5 x16 slots. The 1c26-032 includes 32GB of LPDDR5X and up to 128GB of DDR5.

The Zeus 2c26-064/128 is a two-chiplet module, while the 4c26-256 is a four-chiplet configuration. In the case of the latter, which has 500W of chip power, each chiplet is paired with 64GB of LPDDR5X and up to 512GB of DDR5, bringing the total memory capacity to 256GB of LPDDR5X and up to 2TB of DDR5. Combined, the GPU supports up to 2.25TB of total memory.

It also includes six 800GbE (OSFP) ports, which ServeTheHome notes is “a lot of connectivity coming out of a GPU. Putting that into perspective, that is ~12x PCIe Gen5 x16 lanes worth of bandwidth.”

The slides show the Zeus 2c26-064/128 outperforms the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090 and RTX 5090 in path tracing workloads by roughly 9x and 4.8x, delivering 154 Gigarays compared to 17 Gigarays (RTX 4090) and 32 Gigarays (RTX 5090). In FP64 compute performance, Zeus achieves 10 TFLOPS, significantly ahead of 1.4 TFLOPS (RTX 4090) and 1.6 TFLOPS (RTX 5090) - roughly 7.1x and 6.25x higher, respectively.

Comparing the Bolt Zeus 4c26-256 against Nvidia’s consumer GPUs, path tracing performance is approximately 18x higher than the RTX 4090 and nearly 10x higher than the RTX 5090, while FP64 compute throughput is over 12x greater.

All of this should be taken with a pinch of salt of course. As ServeTheHome observes, “This feels like an announcement where we really want to see product. The fact that we are still a few months away from early developer kits makes this feel a bit early. On the other hand, if Bolt Graphics has Zeus competing with a combination of NIC and consumer GPU, while offering more memory, then it could be a really neat combination. I am always a bit skeptical of products until we see them live.”

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Latest Tech News

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• President Trump picks Sean Plankey as CISA director
• Plankey also served as part of Trump's previous administration
• CISA faces potential turbulence under Trump

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President Trump has announced Sean Plankey as his pick for the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director in Sean Plankey.

Plankey’s nomination will be heard before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, and if confirmed, he will head up the agency following some potentially interesting directional changes. This follows the news that the US is set to pause cyber-offensive operations against Russia, despite CISA reaffirming its commitment to defending against all cyber-threats, “including from Russia”.

Prior to the 2024 election, Plankey predicted a second Trump presidency would bring “more pointed measures at [our] adversaries,” anticipating a landscape with “more delineation between competitive nations versus adversarial ones.”

A supportive President?

Considering President Trump’s appointment of some pretty controversial cabinet members, Plankey does seem a more balanced pick, as he hold qualifications for the role. This includes experience as weapons and tactics branch chief at US Cyber Command, and global head of cybersecurity software for Indigo Vault - a post-quantum encryption document protection platform.

Industry professionals like Brian Harrell have previously praised Plankey’s appointment, calling him a “straight shooter” who will refocus CISA towards risk reduction and protection against adversaries.

In the first Trump administration, Plankey served as Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy, Security, and Emergency Response (CESER).

President Trump created CISA in 2018 with the aim of protecting government agencies and US infrastructure from cyberattacks and digital threats. Trump was “definitely supportive of cybersecurity issues”, in his previous administration, Plankey confirmed, so the partnership is certainly well established.

“For all the misinformation and disinformation on President Trump’s goals, our cybersecurity positions are not radical,” Plankey said before the election.

“Use cyberspace operations strategically and tactically to achieve U.S. national security goals. This is how you effectively protect the interests of America and if this is radical then the disinformation campaign has won."

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Your Instagram DMs Just Got Better Thanks to This New Feature

Instagram's new scheduling feature allows you to send DMs on your time. Here's how it works.

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Latest Tech News

After Netflix offered glimpses at serial killer Joe Goldberg's (Penn Badgley) bloody final chapter with an ominous first image and a short teaser trailer, the streaming service has finally dropped an official two-minute trailer for You season 5.

Joe's deadly journey is coming to an end with You season 5 as his murderous escapades in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and London see him return to where it all began in New York City.

The trailer teases "the killer finale you never saw coming" and going off the clip alone, I think You season 5 has promise to become the best season yet even though my favorite character Love Quinn (Victoria Pedretti) isn't around to make Joe's life a nightmare.

In the trailer for one of the best Netflix shows, the book-loving killer is back in New York aka "the greatest city in the world," with his You season 4 love interest Kate Lockwood (Charlotte Ritchie). Now that Kate is the powerful leader of her father's company, Joe has emerged from the shadows and gone under the spotlight as he reveals: "Fame definitely took a bit of getting used to, but to live happily ever after, you had to bury your old self."

However, his "perfect life" is threatened when his dark past is splashed all over the media and a young woman called Bronte (Madeline Brewer) comes to work at his new bookstore.

What else happens in the You season 5 trailer?

While the new trailer also teases a new rivalry between Joe and his twin sisters-in-law Raegan and Maddie Lockwood (Anna Camp), some familiar faces from Joe's past also make an appearance as the devious protagonist has made himself a whole lot of enemies that are out now out get him.

So, who could be seeking their vengeance this time around? Well, student-turned-detective Nadia (Amy-Leigh Hickman) from You season 4 is seen in the trailer after being sent to prison for a crime Joe committed and there's also Annika (Kathryn Gallagher) from the first season, a social media influencer who was friends with Joe's ex-girlfriend Beck (Elizabeth Lail). Both Beck and her best friend Peach (Shay Mitchell) were murdered by Joe and now she's onto him.

What is the release date for You season 5?

(Image credit: Netflix)

You season 5 will premiere globally on Netflix on April, 24.

You season 5 cast: Penn Badgley, Charlotte Ritchie, Madeline Brewer, and more

(Image credit: Netflix)

Newcomers joining the likes of series regulars Badgley and Ritchie are Madeline Brewer as Bronte, "an enigmatic and free-spirited playwright who comes to work for Joe Goldberg at his bookstore" and Anna Camp as Joe's twin sisters-in-law Raegan and Maddie Lockwood.

Griffin Matthews also joins the cast as Teddy Lockwood, Joe's brother-in-law, and Baby Reindeer star Nava Mau as Detective Marquez. Amy-Leigh Hickman returns to You season 5 as Nadia and Kathryn Gallagher reprises her season 1 role of Annika.

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Best Internet Providers in Arizona

Looking for internet in Arizona? CNET has listed the top internet service providers with reliable service and broad coverage.

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Latest Tech News

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• Samsung has signed an agreement with China’s YMTC to use its hybrid bonding tech
• The move will prevent infringement claims in production of 400-layer NAND
• US-China trade tensions may also have influenced the agreement

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Samsung Electronics has signed a contract with Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. (YMTC) which will allow it to use the Chinese semiconductor company’s bonding technology in the production of its 400-layer NAND flash memory.

Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Wuhan, China, YMTC is a subsidiary of Tsinghua Unigroup, which is backed by the Chinese government. It focuses on 3D NAND flash memory, a critical component in storage devices like SSDs, smartphones, and data centers, and most famously developed Xtacking technology, a proprietary architecture that improves NAND flash performance and density.

According to Korea’s ChosunBiz news site, Samsung likely entered into the agreement to avoid a patent dispute related to this “hybrid bonding,” which will be an essential process in the mass production of 400-layer NAND memory.

US-China trade war a factor?

"YMTC registered the hybrid bonding patent and was the first to apply the relevant technology in the manufacturing process of NAND flash memory. Although YMTC significantly trails behind global memory semiconductor corporations such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in terms of market share, it is quickly catching up with South Korean firms, recently starting mass production of 294-layer NAND flash memory," the site explains.

It is believed the agreement will protect both firms from violating each other’s patents. YMTC sued Micron in a U.S. court last year, alleging infringement of its NAND tech.

ChosunBiz quotes a semiconductor industry insider as saying, “In the memory semiconductor industry, companies sign licensing agreements in advance to avoid patent disputes ahead of next-generation product development and manufacturing. While such agreements are a common practice in the industry, concerns are growing over the rapid narrowing of the technology gap between China and leading companies, as Samsung, the top player in the NAND flash memory market, is now using patents from a Chinese firm.”

eeNews Analog points out that there could be more to the agreement than just wanting to avoid infringement. “It may also reflect that a US-China trade war may impact YMTC’s ability to sell memory components outside China and that a licensing or cross-licensing arrangement for various technologies could benefit YMTC,” the site writes.

ChosunBiz’s article doesn’t mention SK Hynix, Samsung’s South Korean memory rival, but it’s possible - likely even - that it too will have explored or entered into similar licensing agreements with YMTC to secure the hybrid bonding technology for its own NAND flash production.

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Latest Tech News

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• The Mac mute button now matches the on-screen graphics
• Keyboards for MacBooks and iPads have been updated
• It's the first tweak to the button design since back in 1999

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Apple unveiled some shiny new MacBook Airs for 2025 earlier this week – and as well as featuring the latest M4 chipsets inside, they also correct a keyboard oversight that's been around since the last century.

As spotted by iCulture (via MacRumors), the mute button on the keyboard now shows a small speaker with a strikeout line through it. Previously, the icon was just a speaker, with none of the sound waves next to it that the other volume buttons show.

Why does this matter? Well, as you'll notice if you're reading this on a Mac, if you tap the mute button on an Apple keyboard, you get a speaker icon with a strikeout line through it on screen. The keyboard graphics now match the macOS visuals.

It's not much of a change in the grand scheme of computing upgrades, but it's nice to now have some consistency. The old mute button icon has been around since the launch of the PowerBook G3 all the way back in 1999.

Looking good

The updated laptops bring with them a fresh color (Image credit: Apple)

Apple hasn't said anything officially about the updated iconography, but the change has also been made on the new Magic Keyboard that comes with the refreshed 7th-generation iPad Air tablet, powered by the M3 chipset.

That would indicate the new look is here to stay, and will continue to feature on Mac keyboards going forward. The next computers we're expecting from Apple are the M5 MacBook Pros, due before the end of the year.

Judging by the comments on the MacRumors article linked above, this isn't something that has been particularly confusing or frustrating for users – but given Apple's usual attention to detail, it's strange that the inconsistency has persisted.

Our full review of the M4 MacBook Air is still in the pipeline, but we have managed to get some hands-on time with the updated laptops already – and the fresh Sky Blue color is definitely one that catches the eye.

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22 of the Best Gifts Under $50 for 2025

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Best Internet Providers in Rhode Island

There are plenty of home internet options in Rhode Island, including speedy fiber plans. Here are our expert picks for the state's best ISPs.

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