Or at the very least, consumers should know when they do not have full control over a piece of digital media they paid for.
Senator Wyden Thinks Consumers Buying Digital Media Should Know What They’re Getting
Monthly Archives: February 2025
Clicks’ Android Keyboard Case Makes Your Foldable Phone Look Like an Old School Palm Pilot
The new keyboard cases for Google, Samsung, and Motorola smartphones all get a little nostalgic, especially when paired with a folding smartphone.
John Lithgow Will Be Dumbledore In HBO’s Harry Potter Show
John Lithgow has played everything from Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha to an extraterrestrial patriarch in 3rd Rock from the Sun. Next he will be the powerful, wise, and compassionate professor Dumbledore in HBO’s Harry Potter TV show. He confirmed the casting in a recent interview, saying it will “define me for the…
Cat Hitches A Ride On Elderly Owner’s Walker Whenever She’s Cruising
This is a video of tuxedo cat Gus catching a ride on his caretaker grannysday’s walker as she takes it for a spin around the room. Apparently Gus insists on a ride whenever she uses the walker, which should come to no surprise to anybody who’s ever had a cat and knows their entire lives are nothing but free rides and napping. God forbid Gus here books a couple Fancy Feast commercials and buys his owner a mobility scooter.
@grannysday Had to show off Gus favorite activity #gus #cat #mycat #kitten #walker ♬ original sound – grannysday
The Framework Desktop Is a (Semi) Modular PC, but It Reminds Me of a Gamecube
The Framework Desktop without customizable RAM isn’t nearly as exciting as a Framework Laptop 12.
Cobra Kai Filmed (But Cut) a Scene With Karate Kid Part II‘s Theme Song
‘Glory of Love’ by Peter Cetera is one of the few callbacks that didn’t make it into the Netflix show.
Windows Finally Has a ‘Sudo’-Style Command Too
One of the annoying things about using PowerShell in Windows, if you’re used to Linux, is having to run it as an admin in order to make system changes. The simplest way to do this is right-clicking the application in the start menu and clicking “Run as administrator,” which isn’t exactly elegant.
It’s particularly frustrating because most Linux distributions fixed this a long time ago: the sudo command. Basically, on Linux, if you need to run a single command as an administrator you can just put “sudo” at the beginning and run it—you’re asked for an administrator password and the process runs. It’s such a useful feature that it even inspired one of the most famous XKCD comics.
Someone at Microsoft apparently noticed: sudo is now included in Windows. Sort of. A feature that allows you to run single commands as an administrator, called sudo, is now included in Windows, but this feature is not technically related to the sudo included on Linux systems (Microsoft, as always, is using a confusing name).
Anyway: this pseudo-sudo feature is included with Windows 11 version 24H2, released in October 2024 and still rolling out to Windows users as of February 2025. You can check whether you have access to the feature by opening System Settings and heading to System > For developers. Scroll down and you’ll see the option to enable sudo (if you don’t see the option, you’re not using 24H2).
Credit: Justin Pot
There are three options here regarding how sudo runs. By default, command will run in a new window. There are two more options: Inline, which will run the command in the same window; and Input closed, which runs the command in the same window but without input from other commands in the window. The official documentation heavily recommends leaving the default setting for security reasons, though Inline is much closer to the Linux-style sudo command.
Using the feature is straightforward: when running a command that requires administrator privileges, start with sudo. You will see a pop-up asking to confirm.
Credit: Justin Pot
Click Yes and the command will run as administrator. That’s really it: just put sudo at the beginning of your commands to run as administrator.
Credit: Justin Pot
Try it with your usual commands and see how you like it. If the answer is that you don’t, that’s fine: go back to opening Powershell as administrator.
There are reasons Microsoft’s sudo may not work for you. Maybe you’re not yet using the 24H2 version of Windows. Maybe you can’t get sudo working with the applications you’re trying. Or maybe you just want to quickly change your current session into an elevated session. If so, gsudo might work better for you. This open source tool is recommended in Microsoft’s documentation as offering features more similar to the Linux version of sudo and can quickly be installed using the winget package manager.
Samsung’s 9100 PRO SSD line includes its first 8TB NVMe model for consumers
Samsung’s new 9100 PRO Series solid-state drives (SSDs) include the company’s first consumer-grade 8TB NVMe SSD. The latest models use the speedy PCIe 5.0 standard, which — unless you train AI models for a living — is almost certainly overkill for your PC needs.
The Samsung 9100 PRO series offers up to double the storage of its predecessor, the 990 PRO line. It launches in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB models, with the 8TB ones not arriving until later this year. Each tier ships in models with and without a heatsink (whether you need that will depend on whether your motherboard includes one for NVMe drives).
Samsung
The company says the 9100 PRO SSDs have sequential read speeds of up to 14,800 MB/s and sequential write speeds of up to 13,400 MB/s. Their random read speeds are as fast as 2,200K IOPS (input-output per second), with random write speeds up to 2,600K IOPS. The company says the 9100 PRO SSDs are up to 49 percent more power-efficient than the 990 PRO line and have a profile as slim as 0.35 inches (around 8.9mm).
But as Engadget’s Igor Bonifacic wrote in our SSD buying guide, very few real-world use cases demand those speeds. (Think people training large-scale AI models and the like.) As it stands, PCIe 4.0 drives already benchmark far beyond what most gamers and other consumer uses require. They also cost about half as much.
The first 9100 PRO SSDs arrive in March: 1TB ($200), 2TB ($300) and 4TB ($550). Variants with a heatsink tack an extra $20 onto those prices. As for the 8TB tier, which Samsung hasn’t announced pricing for, it doesn’t arrive until the second half of the year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/samsungs-9100-pro-ssd-line-includes-its-first-8tb-nvme-model-for-consumers-205727818.html?src=rss
The Nemesis System Was One Of The Best Things Gaming Ever Did And WB Just Killed It
Today, February 25, it was announced Warner Bros. is shutting down Monolith Productions, Player First Games, and Warner Bros. Games San Diego, as well as canceling Monolith’s Wonder Woman game. This follows multiple stories of turnover at the company, including the shutdown of crossover fighter Multiversus and the…
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Warner Bros Discovery slashes gaming business, closing three studios
Warner Bros Discovery made sweeping cuts to its games division today, closing three studios and ending development on its planned Wonder Woman project. Monolith Productions, Player First Games and WB Games San Diego will be shuttered due to a “disappointing 2024” for WB’s gaming business, according to an internal memo from JB Perrette, the company’s CEO and president of global streaming and games. Bloomberg broke the news of the restructuring.
Monolith Productions made two well-regarded Lord of the Rings games, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor and Shadow of War. The studio was going to apply its popular Nemesis system from those titles to a Wonder Woman game, which was announced back in 2021.
WB acquired Player First Games last year. The team was responsible for MultiVersus, a platform fighting game that reached 20 million players in its early days before dwindling to a planned shutdown of the online services when its fifth season ends this May.
WB Games San Diego was working on AAA free-to-play gaming. In December, Warner Bros Games also announced that it would lay off employees at WB Games Montreal as well as pulling back on the studio’s game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
According to the internal email from Perrette, WB’s gaming efforts will be focused on four of its properties: Harry Potter (including Hogwarts Legacy), Mortal Kombat, the DC universe and Game of Thrones. “We need to make some substantial changes to our portfolio/team structure if we are to commit the necessary resources to get back to a ‘fewer but bigger franchises’ strategy,” Perette said.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/warner-bros-discovery-slashes-gaming-business-closing-three-studios-204344213.html?src=rss
How to Claim Your Piece of Avast’s $16.5 Million Settlement
It’s not surprising at this point to find out that a company you entrusted your data to turned around and sold it without your knowledge or consent—as antivirus provider Avast did for years through its software and browser extensions. And while monetary compensation doesn’t undo the potential damage, nearly 3.7 million Avast customers are eligible for a refund for the trouble.
Last year, Avast reached a $16.5 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which includes compensation for users who bought Avast software between August 2014 and January 2020. The FTC found that the company collected information on religious beliefs, health concerns, political leanings, financial status, and location without user consent and sold it through a subsidiary (also without consent).
Now, customers can start to claim refunds from the settlement. According to the FTC, customers eligible for a refund from Avast will be notified via email between Feb. 24 and March 7. The notice will include a claim ID—you’ll need this to complete the Avast settlement claim form online. If you want more information about the process or need help filling out the application, you can call the refund administrator at 866-290-0165.
Your claim must be filed by June 5, 2025 to be eligible for a payment. The FTC expects to mail payments in 2026, and the amount will depend on how many people apply for refunds.
I Wish More People Could Experience This Incredible Shovel Knight Concert
On Saturday, February 22, I hiked up to the Town Hall music venue in Manhattan for Shovel Knight Live: Steel Thy Concert, in which an orchestral and rock ensemble performed tunes from Yacht Club’s hugely popular platformer. I haven’t played Shovel Knight in nearly a decade, but I love live music and the thought of…
After Years in Limbo, Warner Bros. Is Killing Its Wonder Woman Game
WB is also shuttering the studio behind it, Monolith, the team behind the Lord of the Rings duology Shadow of War and Shadow of Mordor.
Razer announced a refreshed Blade 18 laptop with a dual mode display
Razer just announced a refresh to the popular Blade 18 gaming laptop. This model uses those newly-released Intel Core Ultra 200HX series processors and can be purchased with the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU.
As the name suggests, it also boasts a ginormous display, which Razer describes as “the world’s first 18-inch dual mode display.” This means that users can instantly switch between UHD+ at 240Hz for appreciating the finer details of AAA games and FHD+ at 440Hz for absolute speed.
The keyboard has been fully redesigned, with a new scissor switch that allows for 35 percent more travel distance versus the previous generation, along with a 63g actuation force. There’s a 10-key numeric keypad and dual-LED backlighting per key. Otherwise, the design remains mostly unchanged since the first Razer Blade 18 hit store shelves back in 2023.
Razer
Razer also promises “desktop levels of connectivity.” To that end, there are a pair of Thunderbolt ports, including a Thunderbolt 5 port. It supports Wi-Fi 7, HDMI 2.1, Bluetooth 5.4 and Gigabit LAN. Each Blade 18 includes a six-speaker virtual surround sound system that supports THX Spatial Audio and a 5MP camera with a privacy shutter.
The good news? Pre-orders are open right now. The bad news? This is a Razer Blade 18, so it’s a real wallet-buster. Pricing starts at $3,200, but can shoot all the way up to $4,900 depending on RAM and storage configurations. Early adopters do get a free skin and a laptop stand.
The company has also opened up pre-orders for the slightly smaller Razer Blade 16. This ultra-thin laptop starts at $2,800, which is a $100 bump over its predecessor.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/razer-announced-a-refreshed-blade-18-laptop-with-a-dual-mode-display-200943604.html?src=rss
Google Slapped With Lawsuit For AI Previews That Crush Publisher Web Traffic
Adding to the growing number of lawsuits against big tech’s AI developments, Chegg, an edtech company specializing in textbook rentals and tutoring, is suing Google. It alleges that Google’s “AI Overviews” feature, prominently placed in search results, has negatively affected its traffic and revenue.
What happened? You may have noticed
OpenAI expands Deep Research to all paying ChatGPT users
When OpenAI announced Deep Research at start of February, the company promised to bring the tool to Plus users “in about a month,” and now it’s doing exactly that. Starting today, the feature, which you can use to prompt ChatGPT to create in-depth reports on nearly any subject, is rolling out to Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise users. Previously, you needed a $200 per month Pro plan to try out Deep Research.
For the time being, Plus users will get 10 Deep Research queries per month included with their plan. For Pro subscribers, OpenAI is increasing the monthly limit to 120, up from 100 previously. Additionally, the company has made a couple of improvements to how the tool works. ChatGPT will now embed images alongside citations to provide “richer insights.” The system also has a better understanding of file types, which should translate to better document analysis.
OpenAI
If you want to give the new feature a try, write a prompt as you normally would but then tap the Deep Research icon before sending your request through to OpenAI. Depending on the complexity of question, it can take ChatGPT anywhere between five and 30 minutes to compile an answer. OpenAI has said Deep Research is currently “very compute intensive,” so it be a while before Free users get to try the capability out for themselves.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/openai-expands-deep-research-to-all-paying-chatgpt-users-200045108.html?src=rss
Meta Is Going All In on Community Notes
More social platforms are increasingly axing third-party fact checking as a control against misinformation in favor of user-generated notes on existing content. Last month, Mark Zuckerberg announced plans to cut fact-checking programs on Meta platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and Threads—and replace them with Community Notes, which add corrections and context to posts that are “confusing or potentially misleading.”
A similar feature launched on Twitter in January 2021 as the Birdwatch program, which was rebranded as Community Notes and expanded after Elon Musk acquired the platform in 2022. Community Notes exist in lieu of the ability to report misleading content on X. Musk has both praised the feature as “awesome” and said he is “working to fix” it. X users can still apply to contribute their own notes.
YouTube has also tested a community notes feature that allows users to add context to videos on the platform. Those who meet eligibility criteria can sign up for the program’s waitlist in the YouTube mobile app (under Profile > Settings > General > Help inform viewers).
When Community Notes are submitted on Meta’s platforms by approved contributors, other approved contributors have to agree that the context is helpful before the note is actually published on a post (though the threshold for what constitutes a “helpful” note isn’t clear). According to Meta’s FAQ, Community Notes will be phased in and visible to users across its apps “over the next few months.”
How to sign up to write Meta Community Notes
As of this writing, Meta has a waitlist for users to be notified once the Community Notes beta launches. You can join the waitlist via Facebook, Instagram, or Threads. Only U.S.-based users are eligible, and you must be over 18, have an account that is older than 6 months and in good standing, and have either a verified phone number or two-factor authentication set up on your account.
ASUS Makes Pitch For Upgrading To A GeForce RTX 3060, Say What?
No, that headline isn’t clickbait: in the midst of a graphics card market that continues to be an absolute disaster, ASUS is out here pitching a four-year-old GPU as “the best budget graphics card we offer in 2025 for gamers who prefer NVIDIA GPUs.” That kind of statement would be a joke coming from a site like ours, but coming straight from
Activision Finally Fesses Up To Using AI In Call Of Duty, Thanks Steam!
AI is being heralded as an important part of the future game development pipeline by the biggest players in the industry, with the latest push coming from Microsoft with the release of its Muse AI model. However, it seems as if the future is here, according to Call of Duty’s Steam page that now contains an AI generated content disclosure.
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