The First Berserker: Khazan is filled with various cool armor sets from which to choose, with excellent options for each type of build. But if you’re an especially big fan of parrying, you may be drawn to the Dragonscale Set.
Calibre developer Kovid Goyal released today Calibre 8.2 as a new stable version of this powerful, open-source, cross-platform, and free ebook management software for GNU/Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Plant cells are surrounded by an intricately structured protective coat called the cell wall. It’s built of cellulose microfibrils intertwined with polysaccharides like hemicellulose or pectin. We have known what plant cells look like without their walls, and we know what they look like when the walls are fully assembled, but we’ve never seen the wall-building process in action. “We knew the starting point and the finishing point, but had no idea what happens in between,” says Eric Lam, a plant biologist at Rutgers University. He’s a co-author of the study that caught wall-building plant cells in action for the first time. And once we saw how the cell wall building worked, it looked nothing like how we drew that in biology handbooks.
Plant cells without walls, known as protoplasts, are very fragile, and it has been difficult to keep them alive under a microscope for the several hours needed for them to build walls. Plant cells are also very light-sensitive, and most microscopy techniques require pointing a strong light source at them to get good imagery.
Then there was the issue of tracking their progress. “Cellulose is not fluorescent, so you can’t see it with traditional microscopy,” says Shishir Chundawat, a biologist at Rutgers. “That was one of the biggest issues in the past.” The only way you can see it is if you attach a fluorescent marker to it. Unfortunately, the markers typically used to label cellulose were either bound to other compounds or were toxic to the plant cells. Given their fragility and light sensitivity, the cells simply couldn’t survive very long with toxic markers as well.
Vimeo is launching a new service that lets content creators run their own subscription service without needing coding experience. Vimeo Streaming removes the technical hurdles of building a monetized video service while avoiding the whack-a-mole game of chasing YouTube’s algorithms or the often-meager payouts on TikTok and Instagram.
The company says the product is ideal for media and entertainment creators, performing arts organizations, educators and e-learning companies, sports and event broadcasters and fitness studios. And since Vimeo is pitching less to individuals trying to build an audience from scratch, you’ll need to contact the company’s sales team for pricing details.
The service provides tools and templates for “a professional ‘Netflix-style’ streaming experience without any coding needed.” Creators can tailor Vimeo Streaming’s look and feel with custom branding, colors and logos. The service offers white-label web, mobile and TV apps for all major platforms, so you don’t have to convince your audience to download the Vimeo app. Creators can organize and categorize videos, create playlists, include artwork and use custom layouts.
Monetization options include subscriptions (with free trials and payment processing), selling or renting videos on-demand, optional sponsorship ads and video bumpers and audience loyalty perks. It also supports live-streaming (including concurrent, backup and 24/7 streams), piracy protections and AI-powered subtitle translations in 36 languages.
“Vimeo is proud to serve the professional creator,” CEO Philip Moyer told The Hollywood Reporter. “We believe creators should be in control of their work and how they are paid, so we’re taking the technologies that are usually only afforded by the biggest platforms and putting it in the hands of our customers at a fraction of the cost.”
You can learn more on Vimeo’s product page.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/vimeo-streaming-lets-creators-roll-their-own-netflix-171220483.html?src=rss
Hackers targeting Australia’s major pension funds in a series of coordinated attacks have stolen savings from some members at the biggest fund, Reuters is reporting, citing a source, and compromised more than 20,000 accounts. From the report: National Cyber Security Coordinator Michelle McGuinness said in a statement she was aware of “cyber criminals” targeting accounts in the country’s A$4.2 trillion ($2.63 trillion) retirement savings sector and was organising a response across the government, regulators and industry. The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, the industry body, said “a number” of funds were impacted over the weekend. While the full scale of the incident remains unclear, AustralianSuper, Australian Retirement Trust, Rest, Insignia and Hostplus on Friday all confirmed they suffered breaches.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
The white-necked jacobin (Florisuga mellivora) is a jewel-toned hummingbird found in the neotropical lowlands of South America and the Caribbean. It shimmers blue and green in the sunlight as it flits from flower to flower, a tiny spectacle of the rainforest.
Jay Falk, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, expected to find something like that when he sought this species out in Panama. What he didn’t expect was a caterpillar in the nest of one of these birds. At least it looked like a caterpillar—it was actually a hatchling with some highly unusual camouflage.
The chick was covered in long, fine feathers similar to the urticating hairs that some caterpillars are covered in. These often toxic barbed hairs deter predators, who can suffer anything from inflammation to nausea and even death if they attack. Falk realized he was witnessing mimicry only seen in one other bird species and never before in hummingbirds. It seemed that the nestlings of this species had evolved a defense: convincing predators they were poisonous.
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Air travel may be fast, but it’s also often a source of stress and discomfort. Aside from tight seats, delays, and generally uncomfortable accommodations, airlines have been nickel-and-diming us with fees for just about everything, including luggage. Checked bag fees range around $30 to $40 to start, so it’s not surprising that more and more people are trying to travel with just their carry-on.
Restricting yourself to a single carry-on is liberating—no more waiting at the luggage carousel, no more dragging a bulky, heavy roller behind you everywhere—but also limiting in terms of space. Clever packing, like rolling your clothes, can help get the most out of a carry-on, but eventually, you run up against the laws of physics. If you really want to stretch that carry-on’s capacity to the limit, here are a few clever items you can buy that will help you with that project.
As our own Beth Skwarecki will tell you, packing cubes are life-changing. They contain all your loose items—like those rolled-up shirts—so they stay in their pristine, efficient configuration instead of getting disorganized and chaotic. Compression cubes can also shrink down many of your items so they take up as little space as possible. They also make it a lot easier to use the space inside your carry-on efficiently, transforming a bunch of oddly-shaped stuff into neat cubes that can be quickly arranged and re-arranged. Finally, they can be used to separate out your stuff by use case, so you can keep stuff neatly packed away when you access the stuff you need right now.
If compression packing cubes can shrink down some of your stuff, imagine an entire carry-on that compresses itself. Vacuum seal carry-on backpacks have a built-in vacuum that compresses everything inside all at once with the touch of a button, making the bag as small and easily stowed as possible.
The two downsides to a vacuum-sealed carry-on are access and security. If you need to grab something from your carry-on, you’ll have to decompress it first. In terms of getting these bags through security at the airport, the TSA says they are “discouraged” but allowed, so you can get them through. But the TSA agents may force you to decompress them so they can inspect the contents—especially if the compression makes it difficult to make out what’s in there. Because of the built-in vacuum, you should be able to re-seal the bag after you grab your stuff or have it inspected, but it’s still a downside.
If you’re going to use a neck pillow on the plane, why not buy one that lets you easily stuff it full of rolled-up clothing or other soft items? Every shirt you get into a neck pillow is a shirt you don’t have to fit into your carry-on, opening up space for other items or making your packing job just a little bit easier, and you still get the benefit of a neck pillow. It’s a win-win!
Belt bags (or fanny packs, as the unwashed call them) are a great way to get just a little extra room in your carry-on. It’s true that many airlines will consider a visible belt bag to be a personal item and demand that you stuff it into your carry-on when boarding. But that can only happen if they see it—choosing a slim, compressed belt bag like this one will allow you to wear it under your clothes while boarding, and no one will be the wiser.
These hexagonal, magnetic capsules are designed to be the perfect way to bring liquid stuff with you on the plane. They hold 1.32 ounces of stuff, snap together to make packing them very easy, and are pre-labeled so you know exactly what’s in them. It’s a much more efficient way to bring some basics like shampoo, conditioner, or lotion with you than trying to manage tiny plastic bottles or even a lumpy bag of tiny plastic bottles.
If you’re going to be packing your own shampoo and other toiletries, consider bringing solid versions—shampoo bars, conditioner, or lotion—instead of their harder-to-manage liquid versions. You could replace your toothpaste with a tooth powder as well, which can be transferred to any appropriately-sized container. These options are not only easier to pack, with less chance of a mess—they also won’t get you into any trouble at the security line, since they’re not liquid.
On Friday, Nintendo announced that players won’t be able to pre-order a Switch 2 on April 9. The company directly blamed President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs against basically every country on the planet (except Russia and North Korea, weirdly) for the delay. This has led to some people and analysts online to…
Along with the staging updates, driver core, and char/misc merges this week for the areas of the kernel overseen by Greg Kroah-Hartman, he also sent out the USB and Thunderbolt updates for the Linux 6.15 kernel…
Marvel Rivals is a constantly evolving game. And with the new season arriving on April 11, 2025, we can expect even more changes. But if you’ve been a little checked out and are planning to return for Season Two and want to know where the meta currently is on this wildly successful hero shooter, especially if you…
Playstation VR 2 on PC is sorely missing one feature in particular: Eye tracking. One developer is working on a solution.
The post Playstation VR 2 on PC: There’s hope for eye tracking support appeared first on MIXED Reality News.
This is some footage of a rarely seen sun candle (aka subsun), an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight is reflected off flat ice crystals in the atmosphere and appear as a beam resembling a giant candle flame. Are we sure that’s what it is though? Because I really think somebody should step through it just to see where that portal takes them.
An anonymous reader shares a report: The gap between Windows 10 and Windows 11 continues to narrow, and Microsoft’s flagship operating system is on track to finally surpass its predecessor by summer. The latest figures from Statcounter show the increase in Windows 11’s market share accelerating, while Windows 10 declines.
Before Champagne corks start popping in Redmond, it is worth noting that Windows 10 still accounts for over half the market — 54.2 percent — and Windows 11 now accounts for 42.69 percent. However, if the current trends continue, Windows 10 should finally drop below the 50 percent mark next month and be surpassed by Windows 11 shortly after.
The cause is likely due to enterprises pushing the upgrade button rather than having to deal with extended support for Windows 10. Support for most Windows 10 versions ends on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft has shown no signs of deviating from its plan to retire the veteran operating system.
[…] Whether users actually want the operating system is another matter. Windows 11 offers few compelling features that justify an upgrade and no killer application. The looming October 14 support cut-off date is likely to be the major driving factor behind the move to Windows 11.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
It was Tuesday June 25, 2019. San Francisco became the first US city to (temporarily) ban the sale of vapes, SpaceX successfully launched and deployed 24 satellites and I sat in Nintendo’s UK office on the outskirts of London, playing a demo of a game that still isn’t out.
However, according to yesterday’s Switch 2 presentation, Hollow Knight: Silksong will arrive at some point this year. Nintendo even showed off a couple of seconds of new footage. There are slopes!
Oh Silksong, oh Hollow Knight: Silksong, oh Hollow Knight’s repurposed DLC. The second Hollow Knight game from Team Cherry was initially meant to be a DLC addition to the original, but plans changed, with the developers saying that it had become “too large and too unique.” (This many years later, exactly how large and unique will Silksong be?)
Later, as part of the 2022 Xbox and Bethesda Games showcase, a Silksong trailer teased a release date in the next 12 months as part of Xbox’s attempt to deliver a wave of exciting games after a lackluster start to the Series X/S launch.
When the early 2023 release date passed us by, Team Cherry delayed the game into 2024 and now, well, it’s 2025. I played that demo so long ago that it might have just been a dream.
Without rewriting my six-year-old hands-on impressions entirely, the new game features a new playable character named Hornet, who featured as a repeatable boss fight in the original Hollow Knight, with silk-based attacks and faster, more agile gameplay. It also offers a more aggressive play style, with Hornet able to heal herself using silk charges and even repair damage with silk bundles left behind from prior unsuccessful attempts. It’s a different gameplay twist from having to beat the Hollow Knight shadow in the original.
I subtitled my hands-on impressions, saying it would be “worth the wait.” Back then, I’d recently finished Hollow Knight on the Switch, putting in a few too many hours and was hungry for more bug-shaped Metroidvania adventures. Silksong felt fresh, more responsive, faster and flashier — and I just wanted to play more Hollow Knight.
Barely six seconds of footage during Nintendo’s Switch 2 presentation was enough to re-ignite the Silksong fandom, when it revealed nothing new more than some downhill traversal. It’s proof that a lot of people are still excited — and still waiting.
I’m excited, and six years on, it feels like it must be pretty close.
Right?
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/that-one-time-i-played-hollow-knight-silksong-160022483.html?src=rss
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Google released the Pixel 9 smartphones along with the Pixel Watch 3, and the Pixel Buds Pro 2 late last summer. Their second generation earbuds brought some great upgrades, and make them a great value for any Pixel user (although they’re compatible with any Android and have limited iOS support). Right now, you can get the Pixel Buds Pro 2 for $179 (originally $229), matching the lowest price they’ve ever been according to price-tracking tools.
The list price for the new Pixel Buds Pro 2 is $29 more than the original Pixel Buds Pro, which have since dropped to $111. Some of the improvements Google has made to the new earbuds to justify the price include a new twisting mechanism that secures to the ear better for more intense workouts, better active noise-cancelling (ANC) thanks to the more snug fit, better audio processing with the new Tensor A1 chip, longer battery life of about eight hours with ANC on and 31 hours from the charging case, and the inclusion og Gemini Live, Android’s AI voice assistant. Some things that were not improved this time around: the drivers, wireless charging, and the equalizer options are all the same as the previous generation.
The earbuds have an IP54 rating for water resistance and the charging case is also water resistant, with an IPX4 rating. With a full charge, you can expect eight hours of continuous listening with ANC on (12 hours with ANC off) plus an additional 22 hours (36 hours with ANC off) from the charging case.
As CNET’s review explains, the audio and ANC quality the earbuds will offer you depends on how good of a snug fit you’ll get from them.
If you’re looking for the latest pair of ANC Pixel earbuds with Gemini virtual AI assistant, a smaller design, better ANC, audio and mic quality, these are a good option at this price.
With Rust turning ten years old this year, they are reflecting and working to draft plans for the next decade. They have started the Rust Vision Survey where they are looking for feedback from all Rust skill-sets as they look toward the future…
Will this Chevrolet Silverado EV be the biggest electric vehicle we test this year? Almost certainly. Fractionally narrower and less tall than a Hummer EV pickup at more than 18 feet (just under 6 m) long and with a curb weight of 8,532 lbs (3,870 kg), the Silverado EV is what happens when Chevy’s electric vehicle engineers get tasked with making their rivals over at Ford feel like they didn’t try hard enough with the electric F-150.
Now that production has been ongoing for a while, Chevy is filling out the lower trim levels. For commercial customers, there’s a Work Truck, but for normies, the entry point is now the LT trim, at a tax credit-friendly—if still wallet-munching—$75,195 (for as long as the tax credit still lasts and until the effect of pointless and damaging trade tariffs make themselves known, of course).
The 645 hp (481 kW), 756 lb-ft (1,037 Nm) Silverado EV LT comes with the smaller of the two battery packs offered to non-commercial customers. That adjective is doing a lot of work there; a useable 170 kWh is indeed smaller than the 200 kWh you can find in the more expensive RST Max Range, but it’s also more than double the capacity of something like a Hyundai Ioniq 5. The range estimate is a commensurate 408 miles (657 km), or “just” 390 miles (628 km) if, as in our test pickup, the premium package has been fitted.
Yesterday, Marvel Rivals unveiled two new heroes coming to the shooter in season 2: the telepathic mutant Emma Frost and the unshackled AI Ultron. We haven’t seen much of Ultron yet, as he’ll be added later in the season. Emma Frost will join the roster when season 2 begins on April 11. Fans are excited to have…
There’s a lot of hype around the Switch 2. Nintendo’s upcoming console improves upon the now eight-year-old Switch in almost every way, supporting 4K HDR resolution, high refresh rates, and even “mouse mode” via the Joy-Cons 2.
In addition to all the new features and changes announced on Wednesday, Nintendo also revealed the release date (June 5) as well as the preorder date (April 9). Avid Nintendo fans might have added that preorder day to their calendars, perhaps signing up for alerts from various stores to ensure they snag their console as soon as humanly possible. However, I have some bad news: Preorders for the Switch 2 are officially delayed.
Nintendo shared the news with the media Friday morning. Its brief statement reads: “Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the U.S. will not start April 9, 2025 in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions. Nintendo will update timing at a later date. The launch date of June 5, 2025 is unchanged.”
There’s no ambiguity here. The tariffs the Trump administration haphazardly imposed to countries around the globe—as well as the retaliatory tariffs those countries imposed back onto the United States—are directly responsible for Nintendo’s decision to pull back the preorder date for Switch 2. We don’t know what the company is specifically looking for before they choose a new preorder date, but we do know the volatility of global markets has put what is usually a fun process on hold.
We also don’t know what this means for the Switch 2’s price tag outside of Japan. The company did not formally announce the price during the Nintendo Direct itself, choosing to reveal the $450 MSRP after the event concluded. It’s entirely possible Nintendo decides to increase the price of the console in response to these tariffs, passing along the inflated costs to consumers. In fact, there was already a price discrepancy before the delay—while Americans prepared to pay $450 for the Switch 2 ($500 for the Mario Kart World bundle), Japanese customers only need to pay 49,980 yen, or roughly $333.
A four-pack of Samsung’s SmartTag 2 trackers is on sale for $58 via Woot. That’s a massive discount of 42 percent, as the regular price is $100. This combo pack ships with two black trackers and two white trackers.
They easily made our list of the best Bluetooth trackers. We appreciated the vast finding network, as there are a lot of Samsung phones out there contributing to it. We said the network is “larger than anything out there for Android.” The trackers offer a decent battery life of 16 months, and the batteries are replaceable.
There’s also a large hole for keychains, which is something Apple AirTags lack. The ring volume is also louder than both AirTags and Tile Pro trackers. These trackers are fairly hearty, with IP67 water and dust-resistance. Setup is simple, as the companion app walks users through just about everything.
There’s only one downside, but it’s a doozy. SmartTag trackers only work with Samsung tablets and phones. This doesn’t really impact the finding network, as there are millions of Samsung devices out there, but does limit who should make this purchase.
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This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/a-four-pack-of-samsung-smarttag-2-trackers-is-on-sale-for-58-right-now-152356230.html?src=rss
