BenQ is joining an exclusive club with the release of its Zowie XL2586X gaming monitor. Built around a ‘Fast-TN’ panel with DyAc 2 technology, it’s one of only two displays (that we’re aware of) to jump over the 500Hz refresh rate mark and land at a blistering 540Hz. The only other one is the ASUS ROG Swift Pro PG248QP. Which one is better?
That’s
Source: Hot Hardware – BenQ Joins ASUS In The 540Hz High Club With Its Zowie XL2586X Gaming Monitor
When Elon Musk first took over Twitter, those of us in the tech media had all kinds of theories about how the acquisition might bring about the death of the 17-year-old platform.
Some posited that his inept attempts at cost-cutting would cause irreparable damage to Twitter’s infrastructure or that mass resignations would lead to catastrophic instability. But as is so often the case with Musk, predictions were in vain. Twitter did die this year, but the way it played out was both more boring and more stupid than anyone could have possibly imagined.
Musk killed Twitter by slowly making it useless for those who relied on it for real-time information, by choking off conversations from those not willing to pay, by flooding users’ timelines with spammy blue-check sycophants and renaming the company X. He killed it by re-platforming actual Nazis and far-right trolls and Alex Jones and boosting anti-semitism so loudly the site’s largest remaining advertisers and most prominent users abandoned the platform in droves. Though you can still go to www.twitter.com and see a website that vaguely resembles the thing we used to call Twitter, it’s only a dull echo of what it once was.
While you could argue the death spiral began the second Musk walked into Twitter HQ carrying a sink 14 months ago, the platform we all knew began to die three months later, when Musk abruptly decided to ban third-party client apps from its platform and put the rest of its API behind an outrageously expensive paywall.
Twitter had long been an outlier among its social media peers for having a relatively open platform. It gave researchers tools to access the full history of all public conversations on Twitter. It allowed developers to build their own apps on top of its platform, which fostered a small but robust ecosystem of third-party Twitter clients.
Third-party apps like Tweetbot and Twitterific had a relatively small (but devoted) following, but they also played a significant role in defining the culture of Twitter. In the early days of Twitter, the company didn’t have its own mobile app, so it was third-party developers that set the standard of how the service should look and feel. Third-party apps were often the first to adopt now-expected features like in-line photos and video, and the pull-to-refresh gesture. The apps are also responsible for popularizing the word “tweet” and Twitter’s bird logo.
And while many of these apps had become less prominent in recent years, they were emblematic of the way that Twitter, at its best, empowered its users to shape the platform.
Likewise, having an open and readily-available API meant that Twitter, while not the largest social platform, could play an outsize role in shaping online culture. Because its firehose of data was easily accessible to researchers, the public conversations that happened there fueled studies into everything from global elections to public health.
By closing its API to developers and the research community, Musk made it clear he was not interested in using Twitter for anything that couldn’t make him a buck in the process. Twitter’s data was simply another part of the platform to commodify. Nearly a year later, making Twitter’s API inaccessible to all but those with the deepest pockets may not seem like even the tenth-most consequential change to happen under Musk, but it showed just how willing he was to alienate influential communities on Twitter. It was also a major warning sign of what was to come.
Twitter’s current lords & peasants system for who has or doesn’t have a blue checkmark is bullshit.
Power to the people! Blue for $8/month.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 1, 2022
If killing Twitter’s API was a quiet warning sign, the complete destruction of Twitter “verification” was a five-alarm fire. Twitter’s verification system was always flawed, but it hinged on the basic premise that the company had some evidence the accounts it verified belonged to the actual people claiming them and that those were people or organizations of some importance. When Musk rolled out his poorly thought out paid verification scheme last year, it went horribly and predictably wrong almost immediately because he failed to uphold any kind of identity check.
Despite the chaotic initial rollout, verification’s now-meaningless status did not become fully apparent until this year. After a wave of thousands of spammers, scammers and Musk sycophants signed up for verification, Twitter began removing “legacy” verification from thousands of accounts.
The algorithmic boost provided to the new paid-for wave of blue checks, combined with the promise of a potential share of ad revenue, has drastically altered the dynamics of conversation on Twitter. Verified accounts are given priority ranking in replies and search results, regardless of the size of their following or their engagement — which has made Twitter even less relevant and useful. And the promise of potential ad revenue has incentivized the worst kind of engagement bait.
The result is that even the most carefully curated timelines have become filled with useless spam. And fraudsters are increasingly using pay-to-play verification to carry out scams targeting people trying to reach legitimate customer service channels.
If you were to look for a singular moment when Twitter died, however, it happened in July, when Musk announced that the company would now be known as X. The company changed its name, logo and everything formerly associated with the bird app.
This was more than an ill-considered rebrand. X, a letter with which Musk has long been fascinated, represented, literally, the end of Twitter. For as much as Musk has said it’s about creating an “everything app,” it’s also about fully severing any ties to the expectations and norms associated with Twitter. Want to break verification? Want to charge new users for the privilege of posting? Want to make news stories unreadable? Want to maliciously slow down links to competitors’ websites? Want to re-platform the most heinous peddlers of hate and conspiracy theories? Those actions may have been at odds with Twitter’s mission, but at X, it’s all just another Tuesday. As CEO Linda Yaccarino told CNBC “the rebrand represented really a liberation from Twitter.”
It’s unclear if Musk will ever succeed at creating anything resembling an “everything app” where users will be able to use X to run their “entire financial world.” So far, users seem to have little interest in the somewhat random assortment of new features that have been introduced, like live shopping and aggregating job listings. What Musk has succeeded at, however, is reshaping the platform in his own image.
But if there was any doubt remaining about whether the platform had a chance, Musk has almost single handedly wiped out what remained of Twitter’s ad business. After boosting an antisemitic conspiracy theory and repeatedly failing to prevent ads from appearing near pro-Nazi content, many of the company’s largest remaining advertisers have halted their spending on the platform.
Musk, naturally, responded by telling advertisers “go fuck yourself,” while speculating that the loss of ad dollars could “kill the company.”
But it’s not just advertisers who have fled an increasingly toxic platform. Many of the biggest and most-followed accounts have stopped posting in recent weeks. X’s infrastructure continues to slowly crumble, with random features constantly breaking. Meanwhile, all this has only strengthened the growing number of X competitors, and especially the Meta-owned Threads app. Threads is surging, landing at number four on Apple’s list of most-downloaded apps of the year, despite a late summer launch. X, which has seen steady declines in traffic and engagement, did not make the list.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-twitter-died-in-2023-and-why-x-may-not-be-far-behind-143033036.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – How Twitter died in 2023 and why X may not be far behind
What kind of New Year’s resolution you make depends on your unique goals—which means you need a way to track your progress that is just as unique. If your goal is to quit social media and your friend’s is to run a faster mile, you won’t measure success the same way, right? There are different apps out there that will help you actually reach your goals this year.
This story is going to recommend some apps that can help you track specific resolutions. Here’s a rundown of the best general progress tracking apps.
Per Statista, the top New Year’s resolutions among people who have made one or several this year are as follows:
To save more money (59%)
To exercise more (50%)
To spend more time with family and friends (40%)
To lose weight (35%)
To spend less on living expenses (26%)
To spend less time on social media (19%)
To reduce job stress (19%)
There are a bunch of great apps out there that help you budget, but if you’re ready to get serious this year and save money in a big way, try Qapital. This one is great for a New Year’s resolution because it makes you do a little work, unlike some of the AI-powered budgeting apps that use algorithms to set aside money for you. With Qapital, you set your own rules, which means you still have to flex your own self-control muscles and actively strive toward your resolution. For instance, you can set up a rule that says when you buy a coffee, the app also moves a certain amount into savings. You can also program it to round up change on purchases and move it into your savings account. You can set goals within the app and it will create visual representations of how much you’ve saved toward them, which is great for people who need to see their progress. It’s free for a month, but after that, you’ll pay $3, $6, or $12 per month, depending on what features you want. A basic plan lets you create unlimited savings goals and transfer money between them, plus partner with another user to save together and track joint spending. More advanced versions get you the option to have a Qapital debit card or track your weekly cash spending.
If you want to work out more, it will help you to see your progress with each trip to the gym (or at-home session, whatever). For that, try Strong, an app that lets you input the exercises you do and creates graphs showing you your gradual improvement in weight, sets, body fat percentage, and more. It includes instructions on how to do a variety of exercises, which is nice if you aren’t really a fitness person (yet) and feeling nervous about trying new moves in front of other people keeps you away from the gym. The free version will save unlimited workouts, but you can only add three custom routines. For everything else, it’s $4.99 per month or $29.99 per year.
If you want to spend more time with your loved ones, try Cozi, a simple organizer that gives you a clear visual representation of your whole family’s schedule. Not only can you see when everyone is free, but you can see how much time you devote (or don’t devote) to the people with whom you share the app—which can motivate you to schedule more time together. It’s also free, which is a plus. Use the money you saved to pay for a nice night out with the people you set a resolution to spend more time with.
As someone who’s tried all the apps in this particular category, I’m going to recommend the one I’ve used most faithfully since 2012: MyFitnessPal. This damn thing has been around a long time, obviously, but in all those years, it hasn’t really changed that much. It’s simple and not at all intimidating: You set a calorie goal, enter in what you’ve eaten in a day, plus how much you’ve exercised and how much water you’ve consumed, and let MFP do the work. Its database of foods is massive, so you’ll almost always find exactly what you ate or a close approximation, plus it integrates with other activity-tracking apps and pulls your exercise-based calorie expenditure in. It tracks your weight on a graph, making it perfect for long-term resolution monitoring, too. The free version does all this, but if you want to pay $9.99 per month or $49.99 per year, it will calculate your macros, let you enter foods in by scanning their barcode, export your data, and much more.
Spending less on living expenses gives you more to spend on the fun stuff, which is a worthy resolution. To do it, try Rocket Money, which helps you budget, but also offers services like bill negotiation and income analysis, so you can see where you’re spending your money every month—and get rid of recurring fees you don’t actually need to be paying. Some of it is free, but if you want to create unlimited budgets, get credit reports, and access the all-important cancellation concierge (which not only identifies your recurring payments, but cancels them for you and even tries to get you fee refunds), you’ll have to pay. The app offers a sliding payment scale, so you’ll pay between $4 and $12 per month, depending on whether you want to pay monthly or annually.
It might seem counterintuitive to download another app when you’re trying to stay off the apps in the first place, but One Sec really might be the answer. All it does is cause a 10-second delay between when you tap a specific app, like Instagram, and when the app actually opens. It encourages you to take a deep breath, then tells you how many times you’ve attempted to open that app in the last 24 hours, letting you see just how often you’ve tried—and determine if you want to proceed. There are other apps out there that straight-up lock you out of your socials, but that removes the accountability from your resolution and cuts you off in a way that will be jarring and hard to stick with. Something low-stakes that doesn’t penalize you for being human and daring to open Facebook is much nicer. It’s free if you’re trying to reduce your use of one particular app, but to tackle them all, you’ll need to upgrade to a pro version for $19.99 per year or $2.99 per month.
There are lots of mindfulness and deep breathing apps out there, but those aren’t great for seeing any progress, which is what resolutions are all about. Moodfit, on the other hand, gives you not only tools for managing your mood, but insights into your various mood-based patterns. You can track your mood, gratitude, mindfulness, and breathing while seeing your progress in numbers and on a chart. You can even track nutrition, sleep, and medications to see how those play a role in your mood, too. Seeing it all laid out will help you home in on what besides work is affecting you, but also see exactly when and how during work you’re getting upset, then make the effort to adjust when necessary to reduce stress. A basic version is free, but it’s $8.99 to access all the features, including personalized reports and unlimited goals.
Source: LifeHacker – These Apps Can Help You Track Any New Year’s Resolution
2023 is nearly a wrap. As we close the books on what was an outstanding year of video games, we also note that 2023 was a year rife with something else: leaked information about video games. Oftentimes very big leaks. This year was lousy with them.
Source: Kotaku – 2023’s Biggest Video Game Leaks, From Wolverine To GTA
I’ve always been pretty money-conscious, but I didn’t really get into budgeting until I was in my mid-twenties. “Budgeting” is generous — I thought I was budgeting, but really I was using a crude Google Sheet system to track my expenses every month. I didn’t truly understand the difference between those two things until I started looking into ways to upgrade. It had been working fine for me, but as I got older and wanted to grow my savings, save up for a home down payment and a wedding and generally do more “adult” things with my money, I started to scour the internet for alternatives. I settled on You Need a Budget (YNAB) about four years ago and I’ve enjoyed it so much that I keep using it even after achieving some of those milestones.
The YNAB Method is an approach to budgeting that resonated with me then and still does today. I won’t belabor the basics here, but put simply, you’re to give every dollar a “job” as soon as you get paid by taking care of immediate needs first and then accounting for the rest of your true expenses. The way YNAB does this is basically by acting like a digital envelope system where you can customize all of your envelopes (or “categories”) and the amount of money you need for each (“targets”), and dump money into all of them every time you get paid. For example, I know I need $65 each month to pay for internet, so I have an internet category in YNAB with a target of $65 each month that’s due by the 15th, since I’ll need that money to pay the bill on the 20th of every month.
Follow that example for all of the rest of your expenses like rent or mortgage payments, groceries, electricity, insurance premiums and you’ll have a full YNAB budget in place. You can (and should) also do that for “true” expenses, which include things like hair cuts and car maintenance in the YNAB system. You may not need a specific amount of money for things like that every month, but you can plan for them by saving a little every time you get paid — so by the time you need to get that hair cut ahead of a wedding or unexpectedly need a new set of tires, you have at least some, if not all, of the money necessary to pay it.
I was already taking stock of my standard expenses and setting aside money for those first and foremost, but YNAB made the process much easier. It’s worth noting that was already part of my routine. I was privileged enough to get a decent financial education from my parents growing up (mantras like “pay yourself first” come to mind, and I see taking care of your most necessary expenses as a way of accomplishing that).
The game-changer for me was considering my “true expenses,” which added up quickly. The inevitable weekly takeout order, veterinary bills for our cat, train and rideshare fees and the like were all things I knew I needed to pay for but didn’t previously deal with until the time came. In YNAB, you can create categories for all true expenses and plan for them each month (or week, depending on how you budget/get paid) so there’s (hopefully) never a question of how you’re going to pay for any of them.
If you’re able to do this and get your expenses in order, it’s possible that you’ll find you have money left over each paycheck. Then you can expand your budget to think about other true expenses or sinking funds you may want to address. My line between true expenses and sinking funds is blurry at best, but the latter are just allocated monies you set aside for variable expenses that you know are inevitable like home maintenance or insurance premiums.
Holiday gifts were big for me; every year, I have even more people in my life that I need to buy gifts for during the holiday season and I never planned for that in advance before using YNAB. Now, I have a “holiday gifts” category with a generous target that I put money toward every month and set to be “due” every year in early October. As soon as sales start to kick in during the fall, I have a pool of money with which I can buy all of my loved ones’ gifts.
I should say that YNAB appeals to my Type-A, über-organized personality, but you can’t plan for everything. A few years back, I unexpectedly had to spend about $500 for some car repairs and I didn’t have quite that much in my “car maintenance” sinking fund. Instead of panicking, I moved some money over from my “clothing” category to cover the remainder of the costs. It was a bit painful psychologically (I love seeing those little green progress bars in the YNAB app), but it didn’t impact my finances at all. YNAB accounts only for the money you actually have, regardless of which category it’s in, so I wasn’t spending anything that I couldn’t afford. That’s really important to me, as someone who tries to live within their means — and as much as possible, below it — to avoid lifestyle creep.
Getting back to those “adult” priorities I mentioned before: YNAB was one of the key things that helped me and my partner save up a home down payment and the funds we’d need to pay for our wedding simultaneously, without feeling too stretched along the way. We cut down (not cut out, mind you) on all unnecessary expenses and aggressively saved during this five-year period, and YNAB made keeping track of it all easy.
But I would like to stress that the service was just one of the things that helped, and there were other factors that contributed as well. It’s not realistic to suggest budgeting alone is the answer to all of one’s money prayers. But it’s certainly a step in the right direction and a good habit to build over time.
I consider YNAB up there with 1Password as one of the few services I’m happy to pay for every year because of how much it adds to my life. However, it’s worth noting that you don’t have to pay for YNAB to start budgeting using its tenants. The YNAB method, the envelope system and zero-based budgeting are all very similar and you can do them all with less expensive tools, and even manually with physical envelopes and cash. There are plenty of online communities with flourishing examples of how you can get started without paying for yet another subscription. I recommend checking out Taylor Budgets, Budget Treasures and other similar YouTube channels for more inspiration.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/what-we-bought-how-ynab-gives-me-peace-of-mind-and-keeps-my-money-in-check-140049410.html?src=rssA U.S. computer scientist on Wednesday lost his bid to register patents over inventions created by his artificial intelligence system in a landmark case in Britain about whether AI can own patent rights. From a report: Stephen Thaler wanted to be granted two patents in the UK for inventions he says were devised by his “creativity machine” called DABUS. His attempt to register the patents was refused by Britain’s Intellectual Property Office on the grounds that the inventor must be a human or a company, rather than a machine. Thaler appealed to the UK’s Supreme Court, which on Wednesday unanimously rejected his appeal as under UK patent law “an inventor must be a natural person.”
“This appeal is not concerned with the broader question whether technical advances generated by machines acting autonomously and powered by AI should be patentable,” Judge David Kitchin said in the court’s written ruling. “Nor is it concerned with the question whether the meaning of the term ‘inventor’ ought to be expanded … to include machines powered by AI which generate new and non-obvious products and processes which may be thought to offer benefits over products and processes which are already known.” Thaler’s lawyers said in a statement that “the judgment establishes that UK patent law is currently wholly unsuitable for protecting inventions generated autonomously by AI machines.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – AI Cannot Be Patent ‘Inventor,’ UK Supreme Court Rules in Landmark Case
While used—sorry, pre-owned—cars are more affordable than brand-new models, they also come with the potential for more problems in both the short- and long-term. It’s always a good idea to do your homework and fully understand what you’re buying; but if you don’t know what to look for, the process can quickly start to feel overwhelming.
Of course, not every used car shopping experience is going to be the same, so I asked three automotive experts what they think are the most important things to consider before purchasing a pre-owned vehicle.
Before you start browsing used car inventory, it’s essential to figure out how much you can realistically afford, says Mark Scholl, the executive vice president of operations and retail sales at Montway Auto Transport. “If you’re thinking about financing, start by determining how much money you want to put down, along with current interest rates, and loan length,” he says. “Doing this homework upfront will give you a clear picture of the vehicles that will fit your budget.”
According to Scholl, the prices of used electric vehicles are falling, making 2024 a good time to consider if one makes sense for your lifestyle and budget. “While some EVs may have a higher initial purchase price, with lower maintenance costs, they can save you money in the long run,” he notes.
Also consider whether you can afford a car that still has a balance of the manufacturer’s warranty, or is Certified Pre-Owned, says Jon Albert, Partner and Vice President at JKR Advertising & Marketing. “[This way], you have a bit more peace of mind built into the purchase,” he tells me. “It gives you time, however much is left in the warranty, to detect any issues that may arise and have them repaired before it expires.”
It’s also a good idea to find out how much labor costs for the car you have in mind, says Albert. “You might be shocked at how much more luxury-brand vehicles are to repair than their non-luxury counterparts,” he notes. “This will help you eliminate an unpleasant surprise down the road.”
When comparing vehicles, Scholl encourages used car shoppers to look at mileage in a new way. “While a low-mileage vehicle may seem like a better option, this isn’t always the case if it hasn’t been properly maintained,” he explains. “When you compare a used vehicle with low mileage to a new vehicle, the savings are significant. For example, the price of a slightly used vehicle with a few thousand miles averages about 11% less than the brand-new model.”
Whether a used car is being sold by a dealership or private seller, be sure to request the vehicle’s history report.
If the seller can’t provide the report, Hunter Brabham, a vehicle modifications and maintenance specialist and category manager at CarParts.com, suggests asking them for the vehicle identification number (VIN), and ordering your own report. You can get a vehicle history report from the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System, and companies like CarFax, AutoCheck, and VinAudit—though you may have to pay a fee of $25 to $40 for those.
“The information [in the report] can reveal previous accidents, ownership history, and maintenance records, helping you decide if the car is a sound purchase,” says Scholl. The report will also let you know if the vehicle has ever been totaled. “You can also go to the National Insurance Crime Bureau to find out if the vehicle was ever stolen,” says Brabham.
While vehicle history reports aren’t always 100% accurate, Albert stresses the importance of insisting on one. “Some states will even give you the name of the previous owner if you’re buying from a dealer—contacting them could be another potentially good source of information,” he adds.
If buying from a private seller, Scholl recommends asking them:
Why are you selling the vehicle?
How long have you owned it?
Have you made any after-market upgrades?
Do you have a clear title?
May I take the car to my mechanic for an inspection?
If you’re purchasing a car from the previous owner, Brabham also recommends asking for maintenance records, and if there were any recent problems that needed to be fixed.
Beyond the car itself, take the time to research the make and model, as well as whether it’s ranked highly for things like durability or low maintenance costs, says Scholl. “Consumer Reports and Kelley Blue Book are trusted resources that can help shoppers find vehicle valuations, expert ratings, customer reviews, and more,” he explains.
You’ll also want to look into common problems specific to the make and model, and check to see if there have been any recalls of the vehicle. “Visiting online forums and owner groups are a great way to learn about what common problems other car owners are experiencing, and what is required to fix the issues.”
Finally, Scholl advises asking the seller whether the vehicle has been in a flood, and checking the title if possible. “When a dealer is trying to resell a vehicle, the title must indicate if it is a salvaged vehicle, which means it was involved in a major accident or natural disaster,” he explains. “If you suspect the vehicle has been in a flood, check underneath the seats and in the trunk for rust, mud or mildew odors.”
Before making an offer, Scholl advises inspecting the car thoroughly, both inside and out. “Look for signs of rust, paint damage, and uneven tire wear—which may indicate alignment issues,” he says. “Look under the hood, and check for any leaks or unusual engine noises.” You may also want to consider bringing the vehicle to a local repair shop for a pre-purchase inspection. “This usually only requires about one hour of labor, and can expose issues that can only be seen by having the car on a lift,” Brabham says.
In addition to helping you determine if a car is a good fit for you and your lifestyle, Brabham recommends taking the vehicle for a test drive, as it will also give you the chance to see illuminated warning lights and hear disturbing noises that you might otherwise miss. “Try to choose a route with side streets, hills, and highways to get a feel for how the car will handle in your daily life,” says Scholl. “Test the acceleration, steering, and brakes, and make sure you have good visibility.”
Source: LifeHacker – The Most Important Things to Consider Before Buying a Used Car
The first beta of the Qt 6.7 toolkit is now available for some holiday-time testing…
Source: Phoronix – Qt 6.7 Beta Released With Variable Font Support & QRhiWidget Class
Creating stickers from photos is an easily overlooked iPhone feature tucked into iOS 17. Using Apple’s machine learning algorithms that quickly separate a subject from its background, it extracts pictures of you, your friends or pets (or anything else it detects as the picture’s subject), transforming them into digital decals. It even makes animated stickers from Live Photos to slap onto iMessage chats or Markup tools. Here’s how to create your own.
In Apple’s ecosystem, stickers are digital versions of their real-world counterparts. They debuted in iOS 10, Apple’s 2016 iPhone operating system, allowing users to place cut-outs of fun images onto iMessage bubbles for more personalized reactions.
Creating iPhone stickers from photos is new to iOS 17, and so is their location. In older versions of iOS, you had to navigate the iMessage App Store (in the Messages app) and app drawer to find them. In the new software’s more streamlined approach, you only have to tap the plus icon next to a message, choose Stickers and pick the one you want. (More on that below.)
Here’s how to make custom stickers from your photos on Apple’s latest iPhone software:
In the Photos app on your iPhone, choose a picture you want to transform into an iPhone sticker. Tap on the photo to open it in a full-screen view.
Touch and hold your finger on the photo’s subject. For example, if it’s a picture of your dog making a derpy face, hold your finger down on the pup until you see an animated effect highlighting the subject. (If it doesn’t work on the first try, do it again.)
In the popup menu that appears above the subject, choose “Add Sticker.” If you don’t see that text, tap on the arrow (>) at the right end of the options box until you find it. After tapping “Add Sticker,” the decal will appear below in the same drawer you’ll see in the Messages app.
Optionally, hold your finger down on it in the stickers drawer and choose “Add Effect” from the menu. You can give it a standard outline, add a comic style, transform it into a puffy sticker or make it shiny.
Tap the X button or swipe down to close the Stickers menu at the bottom of the screen.
Apple’s Live Photo adds (roughly) three-second video clips captured before and after pressing the shutter button. If you took your source picture as a Live Photo, you can turn it into an animated iPhone sticker through the following steps:
Open the iOS Photos app, and tap on the Live Photo you want to turn into an animated sticker. It should now take up your phone’s entire screen.
Hold your finger down on the photo’s subject. Wait until you see an animated ripple effect protruding and highlighting the subject. (Try again if it doesn’t catch the first time.)
In the menu above the subject, choose “Add Sticker.” If you don’t see that option, tap the right arrow at the end of the menu. After tapping “Add Sticker,” you’ll see the subject appear in a drawer below with your custom stickers.
You should see a pop-up menu above the sticker. If you don’t, hold your finger down on the sticker in the list. Choose “Add Effect.” A new screen with effects options will appear.
In addition to sticker effect options, you’ll see “Off” on the upper left. Tap that until it changes to “Live.” You now have an animated sticker.
Press the X button or swipe down to close the sticker drawer.
Here’s how to use your new photo sticker in the Messages app:
In Messages, open a chat thread.
Press the + button to the left of the text box.
Choose “Stickers.”
If you don’t see your custom sticker in the “recently used” menu below, tap the sticker icon (between the 9:00 clock and smiley face icons, above the stickers but below the text box) to find it.
If you want to place the sticker in a reply, tap the one you want. Or, if you’re going to include it as a reaction on top of a chat bubble, hold your finger down on the sticker and drag it onto the message to which you want to react.
You can also add stickers to photos, screenshots, PDFs, email attachments and other documents:
Open an image or file you want to add a sticker to. It could be through the Photos app, Files, Mail, Notes or any other app that supports Markup edits.
If you’re in Photos, tap “Edit,” then choose the Markup icon (upward-facing pen on the upper right). If you’re in Files or another app where you already see the icon, skip the “Edit” step and only tap the pen symbol.
Once you’ve opened the Markup menu, tap the + sign at the far right of the bottom toolbar (next to the color palette and pencil).
Tap “Add Sticker.”
Choose the custom sticker you just made.
It should appear with a blue bounding box atop the original photo or document. Drag the corners to resize, or slide your finger across the screen to move it.
Tap outside the bounding box to place the sticker.
Tap “Done” to save the changes.
For more on iOS 17, you can catch up on Engadget’s review of Apple’s 2023 iPhone operating system.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/how-to-create-stickers-on-the-iphone-with-your-photos-on-ios-17-133039376.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – How to create stickers on the iPhone with your photos on iOS 17
The end of the year can be a financially stressful time: Between gifts, parties, traveling, and festive foods, costs really add up. And with all those obligations, it can be easy to overspend and regret it later when the credit card bills arrive in January. This year, change the narrative and be proactive so you can actually enjoy the holidays without money worries.
Last-minute travel plans can be devastating to your bank account. If you’re thinking about using a spring or summer vacation as a gift, wait a few weeks to actually book those tickets. As a general rule, it’s best to book travel about two months ahead of time.
If you must travel last-minute, you may get better deals by being flexible. Be open to all airlines, the possibility of connecting flights, less desirable departure and layover times, and consider flying to or from nearby airports that may offer cheaper options.
It’s easy to get carried away spending on gifts, particularly if you have a large family or an especially generous friend group. If you’ve already procrastinated on your shopping, I know how easy it is to impulsively spend when you’re stressed for time or caught up in the enthusiasm of decorations and music in stores.
Set a realistic holiday gift budget beforehand and make sure to stick to it. Consider physically writing down the specific things you want to buy before you buy them, and don’t stray from those items. This is the time of year to indulge, but make sure you’re being thoughtful about it.
It’s tempting to think you’ll pay your credit cards off in January after the holidays, but unexpected expenses often come up, making that difficult. Then you get stuck paying high interest rates, damaging your credit score. Set a realistic holiday budget primarily using cash or money already in your bank account instead. Prioritize what’s most important to you.
First things first: Of course you should donate to charity. I am not Scrooge McDuck here. But while donations to charity are admirable, make sure they fit into your overall financial plan. Donating appreciated assets (like stock) can have bigger tax advantages than putting cash into a bucket.
Look, it’s the holidays. If you do overspend, hopefully it’s on people you love. I cannot endorse maxing out your credit cards in the name of holiday spirit, but do allow yourself to indulge and enjoy the merriment this year. As long as you’re proactive about how you strain your budget, you won’t go too overboard. Hopefully you’ll thank yourself in January by starting the new year focused—without holiday debt dragging you down.
Source: LifeHacker – Avoid These End-of-year Financial Mistakes
I’ll be honest: 2023 wasn’t the greatest year for smartphones. Sure, we had a lot of solid options, but the age of crazy innovation year-over-year seems to be behind us. However, that didn’t stop a few smartphones from standing out this year. Here are three of my favorites.
When I reviewed the iPhone 15 Pro Max back in late September, I called it Apple’s most boring phone yet. As such, it might be a bit surprising to see it on a list of my favorite smartphones from 2023. Despite how little it seemed to innovate on the idea of an iPhone, the 15 Pro Max has been my daily driver for the past couple of months, and I honestly don’t see that changing.
The feel of the phone is exceptionally nice, and while I do worry about just how durable the change to titanium will be in the long run, I’ve found myself enjoying the design a lot more than I expected to. The iPhone 15 Pro Max sports a 6.7-inch OLED display with a maximum 120Hz refresh rate. It’s great for playing games, watching videos, and catching up with my family over video chat. The A17 Pro processor and 8GB of RAM inside are also more than fast enough to handle my daily tasks while also offering some great power for gaming and whatever else I throw at it. Add in the fairly large 4,422 mAh battery, as well as the enhancements to efficiency that Apple shipped with iOS 17, and the iPhone 15 Pro Max is a powerhouse that lasts throughout the day.
While Apple didn’t do anything surprising with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, the change from the quick silent switch to the configurable Action Button has actually been one of my favorite features. Being able to set up various options using a one-touch shortcut is really handy, and it’s actually become one of my most used functions. I’ve also found the versatility of the Dynamic Island to be helpful, too, though I know that feature was first introduced on the iPhone 14 Pro last year.
As usual, Apple’s Pro offering comes with a ton of camera options, including new features like Spatial Video (though these are only properly viewable on an Apple Vision Pro headset). The included triple-camera setup sports a 48MP main camera, which it takes solid photographs, even in low light situations.
Despite how boring it might be compared to some of the more innovative options that Apple has pushed in the past, the iPhone 15 Pro Max remains one of my favorite smartphone releases of the year.
I’ll admit, I’ve never seen the appeal of a foldable smartphone, and I honestly never considered buying one. At least, not until I saw the OnePlus Open. Despite its rather expensive price, the OnePlus Open was the biggest surprise smartphone of the year for me. Not only does it offer a ton of reasons to love it for the hardware alone (the primary 7.82-inch display is awesome), but it also just looks better than the other foldables on the market right now.
On top of the massive internal display, the secondary cover display is also large, measuring in at 6.31-inches. You can do everything you need on that display, though being able to fold the phone open and take advantage of even more screen real estate is a huge plus. Both displays also offer dynamic refresh rates, with a maximum rate of 120Hz, for smooth usage across games, videos, and more.
OnePlus didn’t skimp with the internals here, either. The included Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is more than enough to power through any games or apps you throw at it, and the 16GB of RAM keep things from hitting any hitches. There are also smaller options for RAM available, but if you’re going to spend the money on a phone like this, I’d honestly recommend going with 16GB of RAM anyway. It also comes with a massive 4,805mAh battery, so you can make use of that large internal display without having to worry too much about when you’ll be around a charger throughout the day.
The camera array on the OnePlus Open is great, taking full advantage of the included Sony LYT-T808 Pixel Stacked sensor. The ultra-wide and telephoto lenses deliver fantastic camera shots, too, offering support for Dolby Vision HDR even when recording in 4K at 30FPS. OnePlus tagged in camera company Hasselblad here, and the OnePlus Open continues to show off just how beneficial that partnership has been for the two companies.
OnePlus did a lot right with the Open, though it definitely could have a much better price ($1,699.99 MSRP), and is missing some important options like wireless charging and full water resistance. Those issues aside, the OnePlus Open is a fantastic first foldable for OnePlus. If the company can take what it did right with the Open and improve upon it going forward, it might convince me to give its future foldables a chance, too.
When Google first started shipping its own chips with the Pixel 6, I’ll admit I wasn’t very impressed. The company wasn’t offering a lot of reasons to choose the Pixel lineup over other smartphones with better hardware, and while I’d been a Pixel fan for years, I wasn’t expecting the Pixel 8 Pro to be as exciting as it is. But, somehow, Google turned it around.
Sure, the Pixel 8 Pro’s Google-made Tensor G3 still falls behind some other flagship models when it comes to raw performance. But where the 8 Pro really shines is in its use of AI to make that G3 more efficient. There has, of course, been some talk about the accuracy of Google’s Gemini AI demos, but even before those issues were called into question, the Pixel 8 Pro was already doing some impressive things.
The Pixel 8 Pro ships with a full suite of hardware, including a large 6.7-inch OLED display, and a maximum 120HZ refresh rate. The device’s battery maxes out at 5,050mAh, providing all-day battery life even when using the phone consistently throughout the day. The clean stock Android experience included with the Pixel 8 Pro continues to be one of my favorite ways to enjoy Android. The flagship Pixel device tops out at 12GB of RAM, which may not be as high as something like the OnePlus Open, but it’s still more than enough to power apps, games, and whatever other experiences you might have on your smartphone.
Chief among my favorite features of the Pixel 8 Pro is the use of AI to create generated wallpapers. It makes your smartphone more unique and customized, and the use of AI within the various video and photo editing functions shows just how useful machine learning can be. If you’ve ever used a Pixel smartphone, then you’re probably already well aware of just how good Google has gotten at enhancing photos.
The included 50MP main camera is powerful and provides a lot of wiggle room for you to customize how you capture images. The Pixel 8 Pro continues Google’s long-standing reputation of delivering exceptional photos, and the AI features I mentioned above only make it easier to find the best shot that you’ve taken in that session. Throw in the new video boost function, too, and there’s literally no reason to choose another smartphone over the Pixel 8 Pro when it comes to camera functionality (at least, not in my opinion).
Ultimately, the Pixel 8 Pro, with its awesome cameras and AI, wasn’t good enough to tempt me away from Apple and my iPhone 15 Pro Max (there’s just something there that keeps its hooks in me), but I did seriously debate it for a time.
These are just three of my favorite smartphones from 2023, but there were countless other options out there, too. Whether you’re an Android lover or someone who finds joy in using iOS-based devices, 2023 was a solid year for new phones. And while nothing felt overly innovative, the introduction of AI with the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro will surely lead to some exciting advancements next year, which I’m exceptionally excited to see.
You can pick up any of my favorite smartphones of the year below:
iPhone 15 Pro Max: starting at $999
OnePlus Open: starting at $1,699.99 (currently on sale for $1,499.99)
Pixel 8 Pro: starting at $999 (currently on sale for $799)
Source: LifeHacker – My Three Favorite Smartphones of 2023
AI may or may not take people’s jobs in years to come, but in the meantime, there’s one thing they cannot obtain: patents. Dr. Stephen Thaler has spent years trying to get patents for two inventions created by his AI “creativity machine” DABUS. Now, the United Kingdom’s Supreme Court has rejected his appeal to approve these patents when listing DABUS as the inventor, Reuters reports.
The court’s rationale stems from a provision in UK patent law that states, “an inventor must be a natural person.” The ruling stipulated that the appeal was unconcerned with whether this should change in the future. “The judgment establishes that UK patent law is currently wholly unsuitable for protecting inventions generated autonomously by AI machines,” Thaler’s lawyers said in a statement.
Thaler first attempt to register the patents — for a food container and a flashing light — was in 2018, as owner of the machine that invented them. However, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office said he must list an actual human being on the application, and when he refused, it withdrew his application. Thaler fought the decision in the High Court and then the Court of Appeal, with Lady Justice Elisabeth Laing stating, “Only a person can have rights. A machine cannot.”
Thaler, an American, also submitted the two products to the United States Patent and Trademark Office, which rejected his application. Plus, he previously sued the US Copyright Office (USCO) for not awarding him the copyright for a piece of art DABUS created. The case reached the US District Court of Columbia, with Judge Beryl Howell’s ruling explaining, “Human authorship is a bedrock requirement of copyright.” Thaler has argued that this provision is unconstitutional, but the US Supreme Court declined to hear his case, ending any further chances to argue his stance. While the UK and US have rejected Thaler’s petitions, he has succeeded in countries such as Australia and South Africa.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/uk-supreme-court-rules-ai-cant-be-a-patent-inventor-must-be-a-natural-person-131207359.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – UK Supreme Court rules AI can’t be a patent inventor, ‘must be a natural person’
Enlarge / A Falcon 9 rocket launches in January 2023 carrying a GPS III satellite into orbit. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)
After our inaugural ranking last year, Ars Technica is again publishing a list of the most accomplished US commercial launch companies. We hope the list sparks debate, discussion, and appreciation for the challenge of operating a successful rocket company.
Please note that this is a subjective list, although hard metrics such as total launches, tonnage to orbit, success rate, and more were all important factors in the decision. And our focus remains on what each company accomplished in 2023, not on what they might do in the future. Certainly there will be more reshuffling next year.
Only one rocket company approached a mind-boggling 100 launches this year. Only one company reused more than 90 percent of the rockets it launched in 2023. Only one company launched one million kilograms of cargo into orbit. And only one company debuted the (privately developed) largest and most powerful rocket ever seen—Starship. And then launched it again just months later on a mostly successful flight.
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Source: Ars Technica – Our ranking of top US launch companies finds a familiar name on top
jd writes: Ars Technica is reporting a newly-discovered man-in-the-middle attack against SSH. This only works if you are using “ChaCha20-Poly1305” or “CBC with Encrypt-then-MAC”, so it isn’t a universal flaw. The CVE numbers for this vulnerability are CVE-2023-48795, CVE-2023-46445, and CVE-2023-46446. From TFA: At its core, Terrapin works by altering or corrupting information transmitted in the SSH data stream during the handshake — the earliest stage of a connection, when the two parties negotiate the encryption parameters they will use to establish a secure connection. The attack targets the BPP, short for Binary Packet Protocol, which is designed to ensure that adversaries with an active position can’t add or drop messages exchanged during the handshake. Terrapin relies on prefix truncation, a class of attack that removes specific messages at the very beginning of a data stream.
The Terrapin attack is a novel cryptographic attack targeting the integrity of the SSH protocol, the first-ever practical attack of its kind, and one of the very few attacks against SSH at all. The attack exploits weaknesses in the specification of SSH paired with widespread algorithms, namely ChaCha20-Poly1305 and CBC-EtM, to remove an arbitrary number of protected messages at the beginning of the secure channel, thus breaking integrity. In practice, the attack can be used to impede the negotiation of certain security-relevant protocol extensions. Moreover, Terrapin enables more advanced exploitation techniques when combined with particular implementation flaws, leading to a total loss of confidentiality and integrity in the worst case.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Source: Slashdot – Attack Discovered Against SSH
Enlarge / A new image of NGC 2264, also known as the “Christmas Tree Cluster.” (credit: NASA et. al.)
Welcome to the Daily Telescope. There is a little too much darkness in this world and not enough light, a little too much pseudoscience and not enough science. We’ll let other publications offer you a daily horoscope. At Ars Technica, we’re going to take a different route, finding inspiration from very real images of a universe that is filled with stars and wonder.
Good morning. It’s December 20, and today’s image showcases two astronomical objects—the Cone Nebula and the Christmas Tree Cluster—that combined are known as NGC 2264. (NGC, by the way, stands for New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars).
These astronomical objects are found about 2,300 light-years from Earth, and because they are relatively close, they are popular astronomical objects to observe in the night sky. This is a composite image from NASA and other organizations that combines observations from NASA’s Chandra X-ray observatory along with those from ground-based telescopes. The image has been rotated clockwise 160 degrees so that the “Christmas tree” appears standing.
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Source: Ars Technica – Daily Telescope: A colorful Christmas tree in the night sky
The European Union says three porn sites are now subject to stricter rules under the Digital Services Act (DSA). The bloc has designated Pornhub, Stripchat and XVideos as “very large online platforms” (VLOPs) after determining that they each have an average of more than 45 million monthly users in the EU. As such, the three sites are subject to the same stringent rules as the likes of Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok.
The European Commission (the EU’s executive arm) says VLOPs have until February 17 to comply with the DSA’s general requirements. Those include making it easy for users to flag illegal content, prioritizing reports from “trusted flaggers,” providing a means of appeal for content moderation decisions, publishing an annual transparency report detailing content moderation processes and bolstering their systems to “ensure a high level of privacy, security and safety of minors.”
The three porn sites also have four months to comply with additional obligations. For instance, they’re required to have mitigation measures in place to prevent the spread of illegal content. This, according to the Commission, includes “child sexual abuse material and content affecting fundamental rights, such as the right to human dignity and private life in case of non-consensual sharing of intimate material online or deepfake pornography.” The three sites must also offer researchers publicly available data and be subject to an annual external independent audit. The Commission says these measures will “empower and protect users online, including minors, and duly assess and mitigate any systemic risks stemming from their services.”
The Commission says it will keep a close eye on the three porn sites to make sure they comply with the rules, “especially concerning the measures to protect minors from harmful content and to address the dissemination of illegal content.”
The penalties for failing to comply with the DSA’s requirements are severe. Platform holders can be fined up to six percent of their annual global revenue. The Commission may also issue penalties of up to five percent of average daily worldwide revenue for each delayed day that VLOPs fail to abide by remedies, interim measures or commitments. In extreme cases, the EC can also ask national courts to temporarily block access to a given service.
The Commission, which designated its first 19 Very Large Online Platforms and Search Engines under the DSA in April, is already holding some VLOPs to account. Earlier this week, the EU opened formal infringement proceedings into X over potential violations of the DSA. Among other things, investigators are looking into whether the platform is doing enough to mitigate risks to “civic discourse and electoral processes.” They’re also examining the “suspected deceptive design” of features such as paid checkmarks. In October, the EU said it was looking into Meta’s and TikTok’s handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas under the DSA.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pornhub-and-xvideos-will-be-subject-to-the-same-strict-eu-rules-as-social-media-sites-123922469.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Pornhub and XVideos will be subject to the same strict EU rules as social media sites
We spend a lot of time talking about entertainment and Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) for cars, but we have not focused that much on motorcycles or electric bikes even though they are potentially more dangerous to drive. Qualcomm is changing that as it approaches the market for two and three wheeled vehicles to address their severe safety issues in a move to make all vehicles safer.
And given it is often our youth that drive these two wheeled vehicles, this effort helps protect our kids, so it’s as important as our efforts to improve safety in cars and trucks.
Let’s talk about how Qualcomm’s technologies will make motorcycles, bicycles and three wheeled vehicles safer.
Unlike automobiles and trucks, those riding motorcycles, bicycles and tricycles do not have the luxury of the protections afforded to modern 4+ wheeled vehicles. The primary protective gear consists of leather clothing and a certified helmet (required in most places by law to keep medical costs down). There have been efforts to apply airbags to this class of vehicle, and there are products in market that afford better protection, but these are more the exception than the rule. In any collision between one of these smaller vehicles and a car or especially a truck, the lighter vehicle driver is likely to be at a massive disadvantage.
The smaller vehicles can hide in larger vehicles’ blind spots, tend to do things drivers of larger vehicles are not prepared for (like lane splitting), and, as with other types of vehicles, the drivers do not always adhere to speed limits and like to show off with potentially deadly consequences.
These smaller vehicles are limited in size and carrying capacity meaning that any automated solution needs to be tiny and lightweight. Otherwise, it will not be viable.
Qualcomm is adapting its automotive class of entertainment and ADAS solutions to these smaller vehicles. It has an advantage given it started with smartphones and was forced by that market to lead on weight, wireless connectivity and adequate performance. As a result, Qualcomm has a comprehensive solution that begins with basic entertainment and communications and advances to full ADAS support. Granted, the larger the vehicle the more comprehensive the solution, which means that capabilities should scale up as you move from bicycles and motorcycles to three wheeled vehicles that are typically more carlike.
The coming benefits include better communications and shared entertainment between those riding on the same bike and in groups, the ability to better identify threats like gravel and black ice and both alert the driver and change the vehicle’s driving behavior to help avoid an accident. AI-driven capabilities can locate fuel and charging locations close to the rider and advise that the rider is approaching a dangerous area while automatically reconfiguring the vehicle to better survive it.
It can alert the vehicle’s owner to an attempted theft and disable the vehicle so that the thief cannot ride off with it or use it once stolen. Collision alerts notify the rider they are in a blind spot and might get hit or alert the driver of the larger vehicle to watch out for the smaller vehicle they may not be aware is close to them. AR solutions are built into glasses and helmets to better navigate the world and to provide additional instrumentation to improve the driver’s on-street performance and avoid accidents. They can provide geo fencing for parents and rental companies to make sure these vehicles do not go places that are not approved or notify parents that a child is sneaking out with the vehicle at night. Automatic purchase capabilities tie back to the various mobile wallets so the rider can more easily pay for tolls and food on the road.
This collection of features should allow these smaller vehicles to better approach the safety of cars and trucks and avoid most of the accidents that take our riders today.
Two and three wheeled vehicles are far less safe than cars, but the same ADAS technology that is being applied to cars and trucks can be applied to these smaller vehicles by reducing theft and making them far safer to ride. I had to stop riding motorcycles because it simply had become too unsafe, and I don’t heal the way I once did. This Qualcomm effort, if successful (and it likely will be), should go a long way to providing a path back to riding motorcycles for me. That alone makes me excited.
Source: TG Daily – Qualcomm Moves to Make Bikes and Motorcycles Safer
If they feel brave and technically capable, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 and Z Fold 5 owners can now fix their phones through the company’s self-repair service. The do-it-yourself program is also expanding to the Galaxy S23 series, Tab S9 series and the Galaxy Book2 Pro, all in collaboration with iFixit.
Neither the Flip 5 nor the Fold 5 show on iFixit yet, so we don’t know how much repairs might cost. For the sake of estimates, a repair kit for the Google Pixel Fold’s inner screen costs around $900.
— Mat Smith
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Volkswagen is returning to physical buttons instead of touch controls
The DOJ says it disrupted the BlackCat ransomware group
In 2023, Cruise’s robotaxi dreams took a necessary hiatus
Video games in 2023: Acquisitions, layoffs, unions
Teenage Engineering’s latest reveal (with timer and everything) turned out to be the K.O. II EP-133 sampler. Another lump of music technology, yes, but the real surprise was its (relatively) reasonable price. The K.O. II is an opportunity for Teenage Engineering to create a series of more capable instruments that don’t cost Field-series levels of money. Even if it’s still $299. As a sampler, it’s great for beginners or those who love a more performative style. It’s not nearly as detailed as rival samplers, but it was never going to be. Fadergate aside (many devices have issues with the sliders not working), this is a promising product.
Following yesterday’s news, Apple is scrambling to make software updates to its Apple Watch algorithms to avoid a ban on smartwatch sales in the US. Changing how the Watch measures oxygen saturation, Apple believes, could help keep the Watch on shelves during the crucial holiday season. The blood oxygen sensor, first introduced with the Apple Watch 6 in 2020, is at the heart of a patent dispute between Apple and Masimo, another California-based company that sued Apple in 2021. The tech company previously called the ITC’s ruling “erroneous” and plans to appeal the decision to the Federal Circuit.
505 Games, the publisher behind the iPhone (and Mac) port of Death Stranding, announced on X it needs “a little more time,” and it will have “a new release date in early 2024.” The Mac App Store now lists January 31, 2024, as the expected date. If you’re hoping to play it on iOS, you’re limited to the iPhone 15 Pro line with its A17 Pro chip. Resident Evil 4, however, is available to play, now.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-you-can-now-repair-samsungs-foldables-yourself-121548532.html?src=rssWith patches pending for creating an Acer Aspire 1 embedded controller driver, this Qualcomm Snapdragon powered ARM laptop has “almost full support” with the upstream Linux kernel…
Source: Phoronix – Acer Aspire 1 ARM Laptop Has Nearly Complete Upstream Linux Support
Now’s your chance to avoid paying full price for a Mac desktop that has plenty of processing power. Apple’s Mac Mini M2 256GB model is down to $479 from $600 at Amazon and B&H. The 20 percent discount brings the Mac Mini M2 back down to its all-time low price — compared to the $500 it’s frequently at. The 512GB Mac Mini M2 is also on sale, with a 17 percent price cut, bringing it to $700 from $800.
The Mac Mini 2 is an impressive add-on to any Apple computer and a serious upgrade from the first Mini’s release in the early 2000s. The device builds on 2021’s M1, and merited an 86 in our review thanks to features like 8GB of RAM, eight CPU cores and ten graphic cores. It’s also wild with ports, offering two Thunderbolt 4 USB-C, two USB-A, HDMI 2.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack and gigabit Ethernet. Plus, it supports Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E.
Apple’s Mac Mini 2 also offers better airflow than its predecessor, thanks to an elevated base. The device itself is sleek, and with a width and height of 7.75 inches, it won’t take up too much room on your desk. All in all, besides the fact that none of the ports face forward, there’s not much to dislike about the Mac Mini M2.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apples-mac-mini-m2-falls-back-to-a-low-of-479-115548138.html?src=rss
Source: Engadget – Apple’s Mac Mini M2 falls back to a low of 9
