Among the many VFS pull requests merged today by Linus Torvalds for the now-open Linux 6.16 merge window is support by the power subsystem for being able to initiate file-system freeze/thaw events as part of the system suspend and resume cycle…
Monthly Archives: May 2025
Pyright: A Static Type Checker for Python (Install + Use)
Pyright is a free and open-source static type checker developed by Microsoft for Python that is written in TypeScript and runs with Node.
Legendary Commodore 64 Gets A True Full HD HDMI Upgrade For A Retro Reboot
If you’ve ever played with an original 8-bit computer—a Commodore, an Atari 400/800, or anything else of that vintage—you already know that getting clean video output can be a terrific struggle. These systems were primarily built to output a video signal using radio frequency (RF) output, not unlike a regular TV antenna, and require mods to
MSI’s Yellow Power Connector Has Another GeForce RTX 5090 Induced Meltdown
In the words of Queen, Another One Bites The Dust. There’s a user report of one more GeForce RTX 5090 power cable suffering a nasty case of heatstroke, this time around an MSI yelllow-tipped connector.
The original report came from Reddit user VersauteGurke, who’s running a chonky MSI GeForce RTX 5090 in his machine, powered by a Corsair
Zwift Speed Tests: Wheel Ranking Charts
Your chosen bike frame and wheelset both affect speed in Zwift, so it makes sense for racers to do a little research and choose the best tool for the job.
While Zwift’s 4-star rating system for weight and aero is simple and easy to understand, performance varies even among wheels with the same star ratings, because the stars are just an approximation. Therefore, we’ve created several charts ranking all the wheelsets against each other based on their actual performance on flat roads and climbs.
If you’re just looking for recommendations on what to buy, here are some helpful posts:
- The Top 10 Wheelsets in Zwift
- Fastest Aero Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Fastest Climbing Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Fastest Aero TT Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level
- Zwift Shopping Guide: What To Buy from the Drop Shop at Each Level
- Master list of all wheels on Zwift
Table of Contents
Charts last updated May 22, 2025
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (300W)
We begin with a simple chart showing how much time a particular wheelset will save you across 1 hour of riding a road bike at 300W (4 W/kg) compared to the stock Zwift 32mm Carbon wheels.
The chart is sorted from the best-performing wheels to the worst, and you can sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Sort Chart By:
Flat Performance
Climb Performance
Time Savings Over 1 Hour (150W)
This chart is just like the one above, except the test was run at just 150W (2 W/kg). We would expect to see the flat performance rankings stay the same, while climb rankings may show lighter wheels moving up vs the 300W chart above.
Read all about Bike Upgrades here >
Use the toggle to sort based on flat performance or climb performance.
Sort Chart By:
Flat Performance
Climb Performance
Takeaways
We don’t see any major rankings changes vs the 300W tests when it comes to flat performance, but that’s no surprise. At both power levels, on flat ground, aero performance is still the driving factor.
When you compare the climb rankings for 300W vs 150W, though, you’ll see quite a few changes. And this is what we expected: at 150W (2 W/kg) up Alpe du Zwift, a wheel’s aero performance doesn’t really matter, since you’re traveling so slowly (~7.7 kph). But at 300W your speed almost doubles (~14.8 kph), so aero performance is more of a factor.
With that said, it’s worth mentioning that wheel choice matters more on the flats than the climbs. The difference in time savings of the top 10 climbing wheels is very small (5.1 seconds at 150W) vs a flat performance gap of 13.6 seconds at 150W.
Time Savings, Stacked (150W vs 300W)
Next, we have one of our favorite charts, ranking wheels based on total time savings across our flat and climbing tests on road bikes. This chart lets you easily see the best all-around performers, and whether their performance leans to the aero or climbing side.
Use the toggle to see data at 150W vs 300W.
Show Chart For:
150W
300W
Takeaways
As you toggle between 150W and 300W, what you see is the more “aero all-arounders” moving up the list a bit, while the lighter, less aero all-arounders get bumped down.
Notice how the disc wheels’ heavy weight and poor climbing performance pushes them well down this list. This is why, if your road race includes any significant climbing, you’re probably better off going with a lighter non-disc wheelset.
Time Savings at 300W (TT vs Road)
So far, all of the charts you’ve seen have been based on results using a road bike frame. But Zwift’s March 2025 performance adjustments included something we’ve never seen before: Zwift made disc wheels perform better on TT frames than road frames. Specifically, the wheels have a lower CdA on TT frames than on road frames.
So if you’re picking a wheelset for a TT or TTT race, you’ll want to pay attention to this chart, as it shows the boosted performance of the disc wheels. Wheelsets are ranked by their flat (aero) performance, since that’s where we see the variation caused by the CdA changes.
Show Chart For:
TT
Road
Takeaways
The big takeaway here is that disc wheels make sense for flat and rolling TT races, while they probably don’t provide enough of an advantage on road frames to be used in anything except the flattest races.
Compared to the fastest non-disc wheels (ENVE 8.9), the fastest disc wheels (Zipp 858/Super9) are 13.9 seconds faster across an hour of flat riding on a TT frame. That’s a big time gap. But on a road frame, the disc wheels are only 1.8 seconds faster, a difference which is easily overshadowed by the ENVE 8.9 wheels being almost 11 seconds faster across an hour of climbing.
Testing Methodology
The data above was generated using our standard bot testing procedure. Our bot rides alone on Zwift, set to 75kg weight, 183cm height, using the Zwift Carbon frame for road bike tests and the Zwift TT frame for TT tests.
The aero (flat) test route is Tempus Fugit, the flattest course on Zwift, while the weight (climbing) test is done on Alpe du Zwift since it’s a long, steep, and fairly steady climb.
All of the data used by these charts comes from our public Google sheet of test data.
Questions or Comments?
We’d love to know what you think of these charts, including suggestions for improvements. Share your comments below.
Putin Says Services Like Microsoft, Zoom Should Be ‘Throttled’ in Russia
An anonymous reader shares a report: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that foreign service providers like Microsoft and Zoom that act against Russian interests should be “throttled.” Putin said it was important for Russia to develop domestic software solutions.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Pakistan Allocates 2,000 Megawatts of Electricity To Bitcoin Mining, AI Data Centres
Pakistan will allocate 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the first phase of a national initiative to power bitcoin mining and AI data centres, its finance ministry said on Sunday. The allocation is part of Islamabad’s plans to use its surplus electricity to bitcoin mining and AI data centres.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Apple’s AirPods 4 with ANC drop to $149 for Memorial Day
Apple‘s AirPods 4 with active noise cancellation (ANC) just became an even more enticing proposition for those who have been on the fence about picking up a pair. They have dropped to $149, which is $30 off the regular price. That’s only about $10 more than the record low and the lowest price we’ve seen for the AirPods 4 with ANC so far this year.
If ANC isn’t such a big deal for you (perhaps, like me, you tend to only wear one earbud at a time), you can snap up a set of AirPods 4 without ANC instead. Those will currently run you $119, a discount of $10.
We gave the AirPods 4 with ANC a score of 86 in our review. Apple improved the audio quality compared with the previous version, and the earbuds have a better fit than the AirPods 3. We felt that the ANC was pretty effective too. However, the lack of onboard volume controls remains a disappointment.
The AirPods 4 use the same H2 chip as the AirPods Pro 2, meaning they share some features with the higher-end model. They support Voice Isolation, Personalized Spatial Audio with dynamic head tracking, Personalized Volume and Adaptive EQ. The ANC-enabled model also has Conversation Awareness, Adaptive Audio and Transparency mode. In addition, the charging case that comes with the ANC version has Qi-compatible wireless charging, as well as a built-in speaker for Find My. However, the AirPods Pro 2’s advanced hearing health features aren’t present here.
Check out our coverage of the best Apple deals for more discounts, and follow @EngadgetDeals on X for the latest tech deals and buying advice.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/apples-airpods-4-with-anc-drop-to-149-for-memorial-day-161120128.html?src=rss
[$] Development statistics for the 6.15 kernel
The 6.14 kernel development cycle only brought in 11,003 non-merge
changesets, making it the slowest cycle since 4.0, which was released in
2015. The 6.15 kernel, instead, brought in 14,612 changesets, making it
the busiest release since 6.7, released at the beginning of 2024. The
kernel development process, in other words, is back up to full speed. The
6.15
release happened on May 25, so the time has come for the
obligatory look at where the changes in this release came from.
At Amazon, Some Coders Say Their Jobs Have Begun To Resemble Warehouse Work
Amazon software engineers are reporting that AI tools are transforming their jobs into something resembling the company’s warehouse work, with managers pushing faster output and tighter deadlines while teams shrink in size, according to the New York Times.
Three Amazon engineers told the New York Times that the company has raised productivity goals over the past year and expects developers to use AI assistants that suggest code snippets or generate entire program sections. One engineer said his team was cut roughly in half but still expected to produce the same amount of code by relying on AI tools.
The shift mirrors historical workplace changes during industrialization, the Times argues, where technology didn’t eliminate jobs but made them more routine and fast-paced. Engineers describe feeling like “bystanders in their own jobs” as they spend more time reviewing AI-generated code rather than writing it themselves. Tasks that once took weeks now must be completed in days, with less time for meetings and collaborative problem-solving, according to the engineers.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
New Linux Patches Properly Handle The Audio Jack On Sony’s PS5 DualSense Controller
While there has been the Sony PlayStation 5 DualSense controller support for Linux going back several years and has been improved upon with more recent versions of the Linux kernel, there’s been some shortcomings around the audio jack handling with the DualSense controller. A new patch series out today aims to enhance that capability…
The key to a successful egg drop experiment? Drop it on its side
Egg drop competitions are a staple of high school and college physics classes. The goal is for students to build a device using bubble wrap, straws, or various other materials designed to hold an egg and keep it intact after being dropped from a substantial height—say, ten meters (nearly 33 feet). There’s even a “naked egg” version in which a raw egg is dropped into a container below. The competition is intended to teach students about structural mechanics and impact physics, and it is not an easy feat; most of the dropped eggs break.
MIT engineering professor Tal Cohen decided to investigate why the failure rate was so high and reported her team’s findings in a paper published in the journal Communications Physics. “The universal convention is that the egg should be in a vertical orientation when it hits the ground,” Cohen told Physics Magazine. But their results from controlled trials simulating the egg drop challenge in the lab calls this conventional wisdom into question.
It is not an unreasonable assumption to make. Another popular physics party trick is to walk on several cartons of eggs without breaking them. Typically it only takes about five and a half pounds of force to crack a single eggshell, much less than the average adult human. As I wrote for Slate back in 2012, “The key is to align the eggs so that the narrow pole is pointing upward, and step in such a way to distribute your weight over the entire surface area, to avoid overloading any one eggshell.” (Being barefoot also helps.)
Psychological Horror Game FYR: The Lost Island Gets Prequel Demo On Steam
FYR: The Lost Island’s immersive horror setting can be explored in detail with its prequel demo, which is available now on Steam.
Developed by Breach, FYR: The Lost Island is a narrative horror experience that puts you in the shoes of a Norwegian islander. Returning home to find things are not quite as they left them, their once bustling town is now void of life, and a hooded figure stalks the land. With a flashlight and nimble steps, your job is to unravel the mystery of who this presence is and why it’s taken over the island. You can check out the gameplay trailer below:
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Alongside hiding from the figure, you’ll also seek relics like fire-damaged drawings and cracked photos, as well as reveal ghostly echoes called ‘Lumographs’ in service of finding the truth. Stealth is essential as this monster hunts by light, noise and gaze, too. Breach says the game has been “built specifically for PCVR enthusiasts” with a focus on tactile fidelity and physics-driven interactions.
FYR: The Lost Island is coming soon to Steam. However, players can step into Breach’s eerie world today with the free prequel demo following a fisherman called Hans, who attempts to escape the dark presence as it arrives. Here, you can gain an understanding of what happened to the townsfolk before FYR: The Lost Island, and see how light and shadow play into the atmospheric world.
Docomo Emoji Set To Be Officially Discontinued
An anonymous reader shares a report: [Last] week, it was announced that Docomo’s emoji designs will no longer appear on any of the Japanese mobile network’s devices. This marks the end of an emoji era that first began in 1999, even though the set hasn’t been updated since 2013.
[…] Unlike these earlier systems, Docomo’s emoji set in 1999 was explicitly tied to mobile internet use and would become the template for emoji standardization in the 2000s and 2010s, alongside emoji design sets implemented by Softbank and KDDI on their own versions of i-mode (J-Sky and EZweb, respectively). Docomo’s set would receive several updates between 1999 and 2013, introducing color support and additional concepts to the keyboard. But now, as per this week’s announcement, it will finally be discontinued. Spanning 26 years, it’s undeniable that Docomo’s emoji set played a foundational role in emoji history, even if its last incarnation remained unchanged for almost 12 of those 26 years.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Memorial Day Deal: Buy This Sony Bravia QD-OLED TV And Get A 2nd TV Free
We don’t know if there’s something in the water that display makers are drinking, but whatever the case, we like what they’re doing lately. What are they doing, exactly? They’re giving away free secondary products when you purchase the main one. The latest to adopt this trend is Sony, which is dangling a free 55-inch or 50-inch TV when you
‘Superhot’ Spiritual Successor ‘COLD VR’ Gets a Blast of New Content Next Month in ‘SUB-ZERO’ Update
COLD VR (2025) developer ALLWARE and publisher Perp Games announced their Superhot-inspired shooter is getting a host of updates next month in a new COLD VR: SUB-ZERO Edition.
As a spiritual successor to smash-hit shooter Superhot VR, Cold VR serves up a healthy dose of time-distorting action. Instead of time speeding up when you move though, Cold VR completely flips the script. When you move, time slows, forcing you to think and move quickly before enemies can overrun you.
Initially released in February, Cold VR is getting its first big update on June 2nd, which is among a slate of improvements, is set to bring five new levels to the Quest and PC VR versions of the game.
ALLWARE says a new main campaign with improved enemy AI is being introduced for better gameplay flow, which not only tweaks older levels, but also makes the game’s many Backroom levels optional.
Additionally, the game’s intro and Main Menu level are also getting a “complete overhaul” so players can jump into gameplay more quickly, the studio says.
Among the updates coming to ‘Sub-Zero’ is also a new weapon-catching mechanic, improved visuals, support for room-scale movement, and support for bHaptics haptic vests. The studio further confirmed that its long-awaited PSVR 2 version is still on the way in the near future.
In the meantime, you can find Cold VR over on the Horizon Store for Quest 2 and above, and on Steam for PC VR headsets, priced at $20.
The post ‘Superhot’ Spiritual Successor ‘COLD VR’ Gets a Blast of New Content Next Month in ‘SUB-ZERO’ Update appeared first on Road to VR.
VCs Are Acquiring Mature Businesses To Retrofit With AI
Venture capitalists are inverting their traditional investment approach by acquiring mature businesses and retrofitting them with AI. Firms including General Catalyst, Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and solo investor Elad Gil are employing this private equity-style strategy to buy established companies like call centers and accounting firms, then optimizing them with AI automation.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Walmart’s Affordable Onn 4K Plus Streamer Shines In Performance Benchmarks
Walmart recently made a splash in the streaming segment with the surprisingly quiet launch of its Onn 4K Plus streaming device, which costs less than $30 while offering an impressive assortment of specifications and features. Just how powerful is it, though? Powerful enough to hang with the competition, according to a fresh set of benchmarks
Pimax Crystal Super: New Ultrawide optics push VR field of view to 140 degrees
The Crystal Super VR headset gets a new optical engine that significantly expands the horizontal field of view.
The post Pimax Crystal Super: New Ultrawide optics push VR field of view to 140 degrees appeared first on MIXED Reality News.
Nintendo Switch 2 Launch Purchase And Preorder Strategy Guide
Launch day for the Nintendo Switch 2 is rapidly approaching with less than two weeks to go. Unfortunately, many fans have been left out in the cold after a disastrous preorder window. If that happens to be you, and FOMO is starting to kick in hard, then we’ve got some advice to give you the best chance at scoring a Switch 2 on day one.
Having