Meltdown from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 definitely looks different in Black Ops 7, but does it look worse?
The post One Of These Games Is From 2012 And The Other Is From 2026 appeared first on Kotaku.
Moving away from VirtualBox doesn’t have to be complicated. Jack Wallen walks you through installing virt‑manager and spinning up your first VM with KVM.
The post Why Ditching VirtualBox for KVM and Virt‑Manager Makes Sense appeared first on FOSS Force.
DIY fixes around the house can save you a lot of money and headaches—with few basic skills and a few basic tools, you can tackle a wide range of home projects while other folks pay professionals enormous amounts of money to get the same work done.
But sometimes, you get what you pay for. Professionals may be pricey, but they bring with them a wealth of experience and knowledge that helps them avoid simple mistakes that can lead to real trouble—including code violations. A lot of DIYers tend to skip steps like pulling permits and inspections on the assumption that they’re not necessary for minor fixes, but hacks that seem like clever solutions when you’re DIY-ing can actually be illegal. And code violations can and will come back to haunt you once you try to sell the house, if not sooner.
Here are some of the most common DIY choices that could also cause code violations.
Changing electrical receptacles (also commonly, if incorrectly, referred to as outlets) is a relatively easy DIY project that just about anyone with a screwdriver can tackle, from upgrading to modern three-prong receptacles or adding USB capabilities. But even if your project is successful in the sense that you end up with working receptacles and you haven’t electrocuted yourself or burned down the house, you can still wind up with a major code violation if you don’t use ground-fault circuit interruption (GFCI) receptacles in areas where water sources are present, such as bathrooms, kitchens, or laundry areas.
The applicable codes can be exacting when it comes to minimum distances from water sources, daisy-chaining receptacles, and using GFCI breakers instead of individual outlets. If you’re just slapping any old outlet into place, you’re probably violating electrical codes, even if everything works.
If you have a set of stairs that lacks a handrail (or has an old handrail that’s loose and coming free from the wall), it’s easy to buy a new one, cut it to size, and attach it to the wall with fresh screws. But if your handrail isn’t at the correct height (typically somewhere between 30 and 38 inches from the stair tread), you’re in violation of most residential codes. And if your handrail doesn’t make a 90-degree turn toward the wall, floor, or a post at the end—known as a return—you’re also violating code. It’s a safety issue, because clothing and straps can loop over the handrail as you start up or down the stairs, leading to a potential fall and injury.
A few years after buying my house, I decided to replace the ugly ventilation fan in the bathroom. Imagine my surprise when I yanked that sucker out and discovered it was vented directly into the ceiling void. Ventilation fans in bathrooms, kitchens, or laundry rooms must vent outside the house, not into an attic or basement. Even if the fan you’re replacing currently vents into an interior space, you have make upgrades to vent it outside or your repair will also violate codes.
If you know that you need a metal electrical box when running wiring through your house, that’s great. If you cram way too many wires and clamps into that box, you’ll be in violation of the electrical code—and in real danger of burning down your house. Each electrical box is rated by volume—not the number of wires, but their total volume. Calculating this can be complex if you’re not deeply familiar with wiring, so a good rule of thumb is to avoiding adding wires to a box unless you’re absolutely certain you’re not breaking code by doing so.
Running electrical or plumbing work through walls, basements, or crawl spaces seems straightforward: You start at A, run the material to B, and close everything up. Except you will quickly run into a common problem when a beam or joist invariably blocks your wires or pipes from advancing.
Drilling through studs to run wiring is pretty common, as is notching joists to squeeze pipes through. But if you cut into a load-bearing stud or beam with too large a notch, you can easily run into a code violation (and a dangerous one, at that). That’s because cutting into a load-bearing structure weakens it, and weakens everything it’s supporting as a result. As with electrical work, the code for notching lumber in the house can be difficult to parse unless you’re experienced with it. You can usually use common sense here and be okay, but it’s also very easy to drill a hole or cut a notch that’s a little too large, setting yourself up for future headaches.
Did you know that your breaker box is supposed to be clearly—and accurately—labeled? Unlabeled breakers (or, worse, incorrectly labeled breakers that don’t reflect changes to the wiring) are dangerous to anyone who works on them, because critical assumptions will be made based on those labels. If you did some DIY wiring in the house that’s otherwise up to code but you forgot to label or update your breakers, you’re violating code anyway.
Everyone uses extension cords, whether it’s to bring power to something that can’t be plugged into the wall or as a temporary solution to a problem. With stress on the word temporary, because extension cords are never supposed to be used as permanent wiring. That means if you’ve been powering something in your basement, yard, or even a bedroom for a long time, you’re probably violating your local fire code. Extension cords are simply not rated for constant use—if you’ve been using one to deliver power for a while, it’s time to call an electrician and have some proper wiring done. (If you want to double extra violate that code, go ahead and run an extension cord—or even an appliance cord—inside your walls.)
Neighbors can be nosy (and annoying), and the old saying that “good fences make good neighbors” is all too true. Just don’t let the desire for privacy and dominion over your lands lead you into violating local codes, because privacy fences usually have strict upper height limits. Most building codes limit privacy fencing to about six feet at most, so if you build a 12-foot green monster in your backyard to block your neighbor’s view of your sunbathing area, you’re setting yourself up for a future problem.
The third race of Zwift Racing League 2025/26 Round 3 happens Tuesday, January 20, and we’re back in Makuri Islands for a scratch race on the Countryside Tour route.
This is a route we’ve raced before in ZRL, but it was done as a points race in the past, with a custom finish line. So while it may be a re-run of a course, the race will unfold very differently!
There’s much to discuss, including crucial course segments, powerups, bike decisions, and strategic options. Let’s dive in!
One lap of Countryside Tour is 16km (9.9 miles) long, with 185m (607′) of climbing. A/B categories will race 3 laps (48.2km), making this the longest race of Round 3 for A/B teams! C/D will race 2 laps (32.2km).
The race begins at the “main” Yumezi start pens near the lap start/finish banner. This is a downhill start, so riders will get up to speed quickly as we descend to the farmland flats. Enjoy the easy start. You can see from the route profile that the spiciness is up the road!
The first 5km will probably be quite docile, as the road is flat and there is no incentive to attack the sprint since this isn’t a points race.
After the sprint, a slack and therefore draftable climb begins, taking you through Village Onsen and the Fishing Village before turning left onto the big feature of this course: the Temple KOM.
This dirty little bugger (literally, it’s a dirt road) has hosted many ZRL battles over the years. It’s 2.5km in length and averages 3.6%, but don’t let those numbers lull you into a sense of security. This climb is almost entirely dirt, which means it rolls slower than pavement. It also includes some hard punches at 7%+! While a gravel bike would indeed perform better than a road bike on this climb, you’ll probably want to avoid that option (more on this below under “Bike Recommendations”).
The Temple KOM is where the first real selection of the day will happen, as the pack inevitably strings out over the draggy climb.
Once you ride through the KOM banner in the giant mystical tree it’s a twisty dirt descent back to the pavement of the Castle/Marketplace area, then more descending to the lap start/finish line.
Heavier riders can use this descent to chase back onto the wheels, and heavier riders will also have the advantage on the downhill finish in the final lap. (Of course, lighter riders will know this and work to drop the heavier riders on the Temple KOM.) Good luck to all!
Read more about the Countryside Tour route >
Three different powerups are on offer for this race, given with equally-weighted probability at each arch. There are three arches in each lap of the route: the lap arch, the Countryside Sprint arch, and the Temple KOM arch.
Lightweight (feather): reduces your weight by 10% for 30 seconds. Use on climbs, where weight slows you more than it does on flats and descents. This is the one you want heading into the Temple KOM, for use on the steepest dirt slopes.
Draft Boost (van): increases the draft effect you are experiencing for 40 seconds.
Use at higher speeds (flats and descents) when you are already drafting off another rider (since this powerup only helps when you are drafting.) This powerups lasts the longest and is most useful when sprinting in a pack at the finish, or if you’re wanting some recovery on the flats/descents while sitting in the wheels.
Aero Boost (helmet): makes you more aerodynamic (reduces your CdA by 25%) for 15 seconds. Use at higher speeds (flats and descents), especially when no draft is available (although it is still useful when drafting.) This powerup gives you the maximum speed advantage in the fast final sprint. Also useful if you’re in the wind, trying to bridge up to riders ahead.
With the dirt Temple KOM looming, many riders will be wondering if a bike swap makes sense here like it has in some previous races.
But here’s the thing: much has changed since those past races. Zwift’s pairing screen no longer works as a brake hack. Gravel vs road bike performance has changed. This is a scratch race, not a points race. And it doesn’t finish at the top of the Temple KOM!
I did some bot tests with various bikes, to see how much faster the gravel bike was up the Temple KOM. Here are the times, using a 75kg rider at 300W steady:
A gravel bike can trim 22+ seconds off your Temple KOM time, as shown above. But keep in mind you have to stop moving before you can swap bikes, and you’ll have to swap at the bottom and top of the KOM. How do you quickly stop moving when braking is disabled in ZRL races? Answer: you don’t. The pairing screen only works to stop you if you unpair your power source.
So swapping to a gravel bike is off the table.
This race’s key climb is long and steep enough that you should steer away from pure aero setups unless you’re very confident you can hang with the front pack up and over the Temple KOM. For most riders, a strong all-arounder is probably the best move, given the mix of a key climb and a fast downhill finish. There’s no perfect setup for everyone, but our recommendation for most would be the new ENVE SES 4.5 PRO or DT Swiss 65 wheels paired with one of these bikes:
Of course, your frame’s upgrade status should impact your decision.
Related: All About Zwift’s New “Bike Upgrades” Functionality >
See Speed Tests: Tron Bike vs Top Performers for more nerd-level detail on frame and wheel performance, and check out Fastest Bike Frames and Wheels at Each Zwift Level to determine the fastest setup available to you.
Lots of recon events are scheduled on upcoming ZRL routes, led by various teams. See upcoming ZRL recons for this race at zwift.com/events/tag/zrlrecon.
Additionally, riders in the Zwift community do a great job every week creating recon videos that preview the courses and offer tips to help you perform your best on the day. I’ll add them below as I find them!
Forming a cohesive strategy for this route was a real challenge in past years’ points races, but much of the complexity is removed in this scratch race.
Remember: all that matters is your finishing position.
With that in mind, here are some of the strategies we’ll be seeing next Tuesday:
Any insights or further thoughts on this race? Share below!
AI upstart also upscales its Labs to find the next frontierThe Python Software Foundation (PSF) has an extra $1.5 million heading its way, after AI upstart Anthropic entered into a partnership aimed at improving security in the Python ecosystem.…
An anonymous reader shares a report: Chinese authorities have told domestic companies to stop using cybersecurity software made by roughly a dozen firms from the U.S. and Israel due to national security concerns, two people briefed on the matter said.
As trade and diplomatic tensions flare between China and the U.S. and both sides vie for tech supremacy, Beijing has been keen to replace Western-made technology with domestic alternatives. The U.S. companies whose cybersecurity software has been banned include Broadcom-owned VMware, Palo Alto Networks and Fortinet, while the Israeli companies include Check Point Software Technologies, the sources said.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Civilization VII is coming to the iPhone and iPad, Apple and publisher 2K announced today.
Formally titled Sid Meier’s Civilization VII Arcade Edition, it is developed by Behaviour Interactive with input from original developer Firaxis Games.
Neither announcement makes any mention of a non-Arcade version, so this appears to be exclusively part of the subscription.
Verizon’s network appears to be having technical issues that are impacting calls and wireless data. Users on X have reported seeing “SOS” rather than the traditional network bars on their smartphones, and even Verizon’s own network status page is struggling to load.
Based on the experience of Verizon users on Engadget’s staff, the services that are impacted appear to be calls and wireless data. Text messages continue to be delivered normally. On DownDetector, reports of a Verizon outage started growing around 12PM ET and now number in the hundreds of thousands.
We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers. Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.
— Verizon News (@VerizonNews) January 14, 2026
In a post on the cell provider’s news account on X, Verizon acknowledged the issues with its network. “We are aware of an issue impacting wireless voice and data services for some customers,” Verizon wrote. “Our engineers are engaged and are working to identify and solve the issue quickly. We understand how important reliable connectivity is and apologize for the inconvenience.”
Based on DownDetector’s map of outage reports, issues with Verizon’s network appear to be concentrated in major cities in the eastern United States. Engadget has contacted Verizon for more information about the network issues. We’ll update this article if we hear back.
Verizon’s last major outage was in September 2024, when the company’s network dealt with connectivity issues that lasted for several hours. That outage similarly impacted users ability to make calls.
This is a developing story. Our team will make frequent updates as more news occurs…
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/verizon-outage-voice-and-data-services-down-for-many-customers-183048956.html?src=rss
Sony just announced January’s Game Catalog additions for PS Plus subscribers and it’s a fantastic lineup. All of these titles will be ready to play on January 20.
First up, there’s Resident Evil Village. This is a direct sequel to 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. It’s a full game with plenty of jump scares and an engrossing narrative. It’s set in a spooky village, thus the name, and a nearby castle. This shouldn’t disappoint fans of the franchise and will be available for both PS4 and PS5.
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is a 2024 sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon. It was a massive hit upon release, thanks to solid RPG mechanics and a truly unique sense of humor. There are minigames that parody both Pokémon and Animal Crossing. The combat and movement have also both been enhanced since the last entry. It’ll be playable on both PS4 and PS5.
Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is a neat little riff on a driving sim, mixing in other genres. The meat and potatoes involve driving an off-road vehicle to locate treasures and uncover secrets, but there’s also a base-building element. It’ll be available for both PS4 and PS5.
That’s really just the tip of the iceberg. This is a big month for PS Plus subscribers. Other titles dropping on January 20 include the iconic roguelike Darkest Dungeon II and the horror adventure A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/playstation/ps-plus-game-catalog-additions-for-january-include-resident-evil-village-and-like-a-dragon-infinite-wealth-181501574.html?src=rss
Coal power generation fell in China and India for the first time since the 1970s last year, in a “historic” moment that could bring a decline in global emissions, according to analysis. From a report: The simultaneous fall in coal-powered electricity in the world’s biggest coal-consuming countries had not happened since 1973, according to analysts at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, and was driven by a record roll-out of clean energy projects.
The research, commissioned by the climate news website Carbon Brief, found that electricity generated by coal plants fell by 1.6% in China and by 3% in India last year, after the boom in clean energy across both countries was more than enough to meet their rising demand for energy. China added more than 300GW of solar power and 100GW of wind power last year — together, more than five times the UK’s total existing power generation capacity — which are both “clear new records for China and, therefore, for any country ever,” the report said. India added 35GW of solar, 6GW of wind and 3.5GW of hydropower last year, according to the analysis.
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
A fan project brings unofficial new content to Battlefront 2
The post <i>Star Wars</i> Modders Have Taken <i>Battlefront 3</i> Into Their Own Hands And It Looks Great appeared first on Kotaku.
Generative AI, we are repeatedly told, is a transformative and complicated technology. So complicated that its own creators are unable to explain why it acts the way it does, and so transformative that we’d be fools to stand in the way of progress. Even when progress resembles a machine for undressing strangers without their consent on an unprecedented scale, as has been the case of late with Elon Musk’s Grok chatbot.
UK Prime Minister Kier Starmer seems to have so fully bought into the grand lie of the AI bubble that he was willing to announce:
“I have been informed this morning that X is acting to ensure full compliance with UK law.”
Not that it currently is in compliance. Nor a timeline in which it is expected to do so. Just that he seems satisfied that someday, eventually, Musk’s pet robot will stop generating child sexual abuse material.
This statement comes just under two days after Starmer was quoted as saying “If X cannot control Grok, we will.” What could Elon possibly have said to earn this pathetic capitulation. AI is difficult? Solutions take time?
These are entirely cogent technical arguments until you remember: He could just turn it off.
Elon Musk has the power to disable Grok, if not in whole (we should be so lucky) than its image generation capabilities. We know this intuitively, but also because he rate-limited Grok’s image generation after this latest scandal: after a few requests, free users are now prompted to pay $8 per month to continue enlisting a wasteful technology to remove articles of clothing from women. Sweep it under the rug, make a couple bucks along the way.
Not only is it entirely possible for image generation to be turned off, it’s the only responsible option. Software engineers regularly roll back updates or turn off features that work less than optimally; this one’s still up and running despite likely running afoul of the law.
That we have now gone the better part of a month aware this problem exists; that the “feature” still remains should tell Starmer and others all they need to know. Buddy, you’re carrying water for a bozo who does not seem to care that one such victim was reportedly Ashley St Clair, the mother of one of his (many) children.
Some countries — namely Malaysia and Indonesia — chose to turn Grok off for their citizens by blocking the service. Indonesia’s Communication and Digital Affairs Minister was quoted as saying “The government sees nonconsensual sexual deepfakes as a serious violation of human rights.” Imagine if everyone in the business of statecraft felt that way.
The UK (not to mention the US, but please, expect nothing from us, we’re busy doing authoritarianism) has a lot more sway over X, and by extension Elon, than either of those countries. Musk does, and is looking to do even more, business in the UK. Even if Musk were not perhaps the world’s most well known liar, Grok can still make images and that should speak for itself. Grok should be well out of second chances by now, and it’s up to government leaders to say no more until they can independently verify it’s no longer capable of harm.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/he-could-just-turn-it-off-180209551.html?src=rss
Short form videos are addicting. They’re also often low quality, AI-generated, misinformation, or some combination of the bunch, and may have a negative impact on our attention spans and mental health. In short, they’re just not that good for us. It’s bad enough for grown adults to control their scrolling habits, but it’s another thing entirely for children, which poses quite the a challenge.
It’s easy enough to ban short-form video apps entirely, like TikTok. But what about apps that have short-form content as just one pillar of the overall package? Take YouTube: You might not mind your child having limited access to the app or site to watch long-form content you approve of, but having Shorts always in the way throws a wrench in that system. Any type of short-form video feed would be an issue here, but YouTube Shorts is particularly egregious, allowing kids to watch some truly horrific content, often generated by AI.
Luckily, YouTube finally appears to be giving parents some control here. As spotted by TechCrunch, YouTube announced updates to its parental controls on Wednesday. While there are a few changes on the way, the headline for me concerns Shorts. Not only will YouTube let parents choose a timer for how often their kids can watch Shorts, they can choose to set the timer to zero—effectively blocking Shorts for their kids’ and teens’ accounts.
This should be welcome news to any parents struggling to limit the short-form video content their kids are watching. You can let them watch other types of videos on YouTube Kids, or even standard YouTube if its a teen account, without worrying about them going down short-form video rabbit holes for hours.
The control here can be even more granular than an outright ban, too. Since you’re always in control of the timer, YouTube says you can customize timers based on the scenario: You could set the Shorts timer to zero during homework time, then offer 30 minutes of scrolling after dinner. You could bump that to 60 minutes on weekends, or when in the car. If your child is under a supervised account, you’ll also be able to control both custom Bedtime and “Take a Break” reminders.
This is not the first time YouTube has offered users more control over Shorts. Last week, the company rolled out a new search filter that lets you choose to only see long-form videos in any given result, and since October, you’ve been able to limit the number of shorts you can watch in a day. YouTube, and parent company Google, are also expanding parental controls and enhancing protections for kids and teens. YouTube now uses AI to guess your age, and, if it believes you’re under 18, will add restrictions to your account. Google also gives parents more control over supervised accounts: Previously, teens could choose to remove supervision after turning 13, but now, they need their parents to sign off on it too.
CharacterBank set out to work on Knights of Fiona aiming to take what they learned from Ruinsmagus into a more expansive and ambitious role-playing game.
Part of that journey involves making it multiplayer.
“ Ruinsmagus was a full single-player experience when we launched it, and we heard a lot from players about wanting to keep playing and exploring that world, so creating this large world that players could keep visiting was our biggest goal with this experience,” explains Shuto Mikami, the CEO of CharacterBank, on the origins of this new title. “Plus, with that previous game, the actual gameplay is almost more linked to a shooter game in how you played it, and we wanted to create something that felt more like an RPG. Using magic that didn’t feel like shooting bullets, swordplay, bows, introducing these styles that allow the game to feel more like this genre.”
I jumped into Knights of Fiona for the first time in an exclusive demo at the studio’s offices in Kyoto, Japan, looking at their effort to build something that feels like a true, traditional RPG adventure. I can see similarities to the hub world of Ruinsmagus and this title, but this time the hub is one continuous and larger town that feels more alive, even in these early stages. We were still required to warp to some locations of the town, but that should change with further development.
Rather than feeling limited to just you and a very small cast of characters, you have a team of party members and a supporting cast each as visually distinct and personality-driven as the last. The train station, the main starting point for a lot of missions, has moving trains and a large space to explore.
It’s when jumping into the quests themselves that the distinctions and evolution of this experience compared to CharacterBank’s prior work becomes most apparent. As Mikami notes, the first thing that stands out in the gameplay loop compared to Ruinsmagus is just how much additional depth and variety exists in terms of combat. You have bows, swords of all sizes, mage staffs and more at your disposal, and not only does each class feel distinctly unique to one another, weapons within those same classes feel unique and can be further upgraded to improve their strength and suit your style.
Firing an arrow, for example, requires a full-bodied, two-handed pull back of the bow. Aim and fire with the assistance of a guide for the arrow’s flight path, which allows us to attack from a safe distance countered by the slower nature of these weapons. Using swords of all sizes has a distinct feel and heft despite the typical limitations of the virtual form that makes it impossible to differentiate the weight of a virtual object, instead built into how you swing these weapons and approach combat. If magic can feel the closest to the combat of Ruinsmagus, the way you aim and the various spells that differ between staffs allow for a degree of control and variety. Even then, more than just swinging aimlessly, you have multiple actions assigned to various buttons for varied attacks, and everything from positioning to learning attack patterns is important for victory.
The game further encourages you to switch between these weapons, not just because of the weapons themselves but everything to do with upgrades and passive abilities that support your loadout. These come in the form of cards received randomly as rewards after each quest as well as from the in-game shop. These cards will also impact passive abilities that can improve base strength and introduce additional augmentations to your weapon’s abilities. You can further merge weapon cards to improve the level and experience of weapons beyond merely using them in action to essentially craft new weapons, and place passive cards in open slots to give you an edge in battle. The rarity and power of these cards increases based on difficulty chosen for each quest, with encouragement to revisit quests to get these abilities.
Gameplay focuses on fun over realism in combat and mechanic design, he explains. “We brought in the real weapons to try so we had an idea of how we wanted to replicate the feel of them in the game. That being said, one of the things we were considerate about was that, when we were designing for the sword and the bow, was that it wasn’t too technical. We want to make sure this is accessible for casual players and people who just want to jump in and experience this world.”
Which is important when creating a multiplayer experience you can play with friends. Another distinct characteristic of Knights of Fiona is that this is an online game at its core. All quests are taken on as a party, whether CPUs or online with friends, and you can engage in proximity voice chat and explore the hub world together also. Playing the game with just a few of the developers at their offices, lots of the fun of the experience was derived merely by exploring and talking amongst ourselves, just as much as it was fighting through hordes and large boss fights.
How you approach missions varies wildly based on your party and the quest itself. Playing through most of the first chapter including its finale during our session, we experienced the story as we saw off the first major threat, going from fighting early low-level hordes in open fields as we learned to gain the trust of the town to fighting off against the game’s first boss, an angry fire-breathing dragon. This set-piece is a clear statement of intent for the team’s ambition as we rush through waves of enemies and projectiles on the burning bridge that enters the town, only to come across a large bright-red dragon with eyes intent to kill, breathing fire and shaking the world with every attack. With a group you can split duties and distract the dragon, while alone you’re faced with a battle of wits and agility, not just strength.
It’s impressive, but only a small idea of what’s to come. Enemies of world-ending, literally titanic proportions are being teased, to such a scale that simply looking up at them in VR makes you feel like an ant, and I can barely even speculate how you would overcome their might. It’s promised to be longer but varied in setting as you trek out on a globe-trotting adventure in order to save it, even if your home in Gallia remains a hub. All with a rich cast of characters to support you along.
While the core story will have a definitive ending, it’s possible to replay missions on new difficulties for new weapons and ability cards, and while the team haven’t confirmed definitive plans at this stage, they’re open to the idea of much more.
According to the game’s director, HOI, multiplayer and online elements are about more than merely keeping players coming back, but creating something that can stick with people. Talking about their hopes for the game, they noted, “I want people to finish this game and think, I want to spend more time in this world, I want to get to know these characters more, about their relationships, what other adventures they may go on and the like. I want people wanting to learn more about this world. Lately, as soon as a game, a manga or an anime has finished, it’s forgotten by the next weekend, which is a little sad considering the love and work that went into it. Whether on their own or with other players, we want people to keep coming back to experience more in this place.”
In an introductory prologue, we arrived in this place unaware of the dangers it was soon to face in the oncoming war. Its people are losing hope, and that’s where you come in. You end up entrusted with leading the resistance to this fight by the leaders of Gallia, including some of its ruling figures like the large, tree-like Kelnund and Leonhardt, make allies with the knight Geisenberg, and find support from characters in the town like the purple-skinned alchemist Nebulous Babbege.
With characters, each design is as distinct as they are intriguing, soaked in a visual design conveying a history beyond what we are privy to in this adventure. Lots of time was spent on the design process before a line of code was made from design to even assigning characters their own Myers-Briggs-style personality types, HOI explains. “I often find that if you think about the story and create the world before you think about its characters, you end up creating characters that feel like gods in their world, which isn’t a good thing. So the first thing we would consider with every character is what is their personality, what are their motivations, what are their desires, what or who do they love, things like that.
“For example, we’d consider the role that a character is expected to take upon, how they feel about that role, the pressures elsewhere, things like that. The characters would be born from considering their internal emotions based on the life they have around them. Who could they talk to about these things? What are their more immediate problems and concerns? When it came to thinking about the setting, well, Gallia is a very medieval-inspired setting, so we considered philosophies of the time, what would the internal political debates of the location be, what sort of world and ruling would we have here, what does class division look like in this setting, we’d consider all of this from the earliest stages.
“Then we would bring in the designers. Maybe we would have some rough sketches of the settings, characters and ideas, but the designers would help to brush them up and help build them out further, or the designers would create it all from scratch based on the original designs. We also have a bigger cast, which helps. In Ruinsmagus, we had Iris as our main character, but she also had to be a guide for the player, she had a lot of roles to fill. Fiona started in this place, but with more characters we could think more about how she would react to different things and then give her deeper character development from there.”
Another distinct characteristic of Knights of Fiona is that this is an online game at its core. All quests are taken on as a party, whether CPUs or online with friends, and you can engage in proximity voice chat and explore the hub world together also. Playing the game with just a few of the developers at the office, so much fun was derived just by exploring and talking and having fun in this area. While the core story will have a definitive ending, it’s possible to replay missions on new difficulties for new weapons and ability cards, and while the team haven’t confirmed definitive plans at this stage, they’re open to the idea of new stories, time-exclusive skins and more to support the online service and to keep the game as something to return to with friends.
Even in this early stage, the game feels alive. The opening hub town includes lots of areas to explore and create your own fun. While not currently active due to the game not yet launching to the public, community integration in the town hall exists in the form of a notice board to allow fanart shared in Discord with players.
Currently in place of fan art are doodles from the staff, and you can see the love for these characters in all the fun sketches made by the team (with particular love for my own early favorite Nebulous Babbege). You can feel the love for this game, this world, and what it means to the team behind it in all the subtle details in the town and world, the care and refinement in card art for weapons and abilities and in the art in the town, and how much it means. For director HOI creating the story, he mentioned that one of the key inspirations was the challenge and responsibility of creating a new game and the expectations, something that weaves its way into the world and ideas driving Knights of Fiona.
Beyond simply being something new and much fun to play through even at this early stage, you can feel that this is the game that CharacterBank as a studio have been working toward for some time. It brings across ideas from much of their other works, builds beyond what they were able to achieve in Ruinsmagus, and charts ambitious ground for RPGs in VR. To support post-launch additional content the team is launching a Kickstarter campaign.
With everything considered, it’s a tall order. If the team can fully deliver on all of its ideas, we could be in for something truly special.
Look, virtual private networks are great — I wouldn’t have made a list of the best VPNs if I didn’t recommend using them. But being able to control your own technology is also important. A VPN can provide protection and peace of mind when used properly, but you may not want it active on your phone all the time.
For example: Are your Google search results suddenly in German? That’s one example of what can happen if you leave your virtual location set to Berlin or Vienna. Or maybe a VPN you installed for work or to watch a single tennis match is persistently trying to keep itself active.
The point is, deactivating a VPN on an iPhone can sometimes be unusually tricky, because there’s more than one off switch. Fortunately, it’s not hard. There are several easy ways to disconnect from an iOS VPN or delete it entirely. If you catch it turning itself back on, I’ll show you how to stop that too.
I’m using a fluid definition of “turn off” here. Some of the steps below simply disconnect the VPN, while others remove it from your phone altogether. I’ll make it clear in each section what the outcome will be.
This is the easiest way to turn off a VPN on your iPhone. First, find the VPN app that’s active, which should be on your home screen somewhere. Each app has a different interface for connecting and disconnecting, but the disconnect button should be fairly obvious — it may say the word “disconnect” or show a green power icon. In any case, it should be right on the home screen, without requiring any digging through menus.
Tap the disconnect button and wait for the VPN to clearly state that it’s disconnected. Check to make sure the rectangle with “VPN” inside has disappeared from the top of your iPhone screen. The VPN is now disconnected.
If you aren’t sure which VPN app is active, or if its interface doesn’t make it clear how to turn it off, you can shut it down from the Settings menu instead. Find the app on your home screen that looks like several interlocking gray gears and tap it.
Next, scroll down and tap the VPN option. If it’s not present (which it won’t be on older iOS versions), tap the General option next to another picture of a gray gear. Scroll down again and tap VPN & Device Management by yet another gray gear. Finally, tap the VPN option at the top of the screen to reach the VPN management page.
If you have a VPN active, you should see an option at the top of the page labeled VPN Status. Toggle it from Connected to Not Connected. The VPN icon should disappear from the top of your screen, indicating that it’s turned off.
If you don’t want the VPN on your phone at all, you can turn it off permanently by deleting both the app and the configuration. This is a lot harder to undo, so only do it if you’re certain.
Start by deleting the app the same way you’d get rid of any other app. Tap the icon and hold until a pop-up menu appears. Select the Remove App option in red text, then click Remove App again when prompted.
Deleting the app should also delete the configuration, but you can verify this for yourself. Follow the process from the previous section to find the VPN settings page. If there’s still a VPN profile in those settings, tap the circled letter “i” next to its name, then tap Delete VPN at the bottom of the screen. The VPN is now gone from your iPhone unless you re-download it from the App Store.
Sometimes, even though you’ve followed all the steps, that pesky VPN rectangle is back on your screen the next time you unlock your phone. If your iOS VPN keeps turning itself back on, a few things might be happening, most of them thankfully fixable.
If you did not delete the VPN, it may be turning itself back on because its settings are telling it to. Go into its preferences menu and check for a setting called “auto-connect” or something similar. Settings like these have the VPN connect by itself to protect users who forget to activate it manually. Toggle all auto-connect options off and the problem should stop.
It’s also possible that settings on the iOS side are making the VPN reconnect. Go to the VPN settings page (you’ll find instructions for getting there in the previous section) and find the name of the active VPN profile. Tap the “i” next to it. On the next page, turn off “connect on demand” to stop the automatic reconnections.
If you did delete the VPN, but it’s still reinstalling itself and turning back on, make sure that you deleted both the app and the connection profile. Reboot your iPhone to make sure all the settings stick. If the problem persists after all this, you’ve either got malware disguised as a VPN or you’re using a school or work phone where the VPN can’t be uninstalled.
If you aren’t on a phone provided by a school or office, meaning you probably have malware, download an antivirus app and run a complete scan of your iPhone. This should remove any persistent files that keep reinstalling the virus. If, after all this, the VPN is still turning itself back on, I recommend burning your phone in a salt circle with a bundle of sage.
I encourage everyone to use a VPN every time they connect to the internet, but there are some situations where going through a VPN server is less convenient (this is the whole reason split tunneling exists). Here are a few cases in which temporarily turning off your VPN might be a good idea.
The VPN isn’t working. If your browsing speed is sluggish or the VPN keeps dropping the connection, your VPN server might be having problems. Disconnecting and reconnecting, even in the same location, should switch you to a different server that may work better.
The VPN is causing unintended browsing errors. If you’re using mapping software or just trying to do a location-based search, having your VPN active can cause more problems than it solves.
Your internet connection is unstable. A VPN adds an extra step to the process of getting online. If your phone is already struggling, the VPN might be an unnecessary complication.
You’re on a site that blocks all VPNs. Sites that work based on your location, including all streaming sites, may blanket-block VPNs so nothing messes with their location services. Good VPNs can get around these blocks, but even the best sometimes fail. In these cases, briefly turning off the VPN may be a good idea.
Your battery is low. VPNs can put a strain on your phone’s battery life. This varies with the quality of your VPN, but you may sometimes need to shut it off if your battery is in the red.
iCloud Private Relay is not a VPN, but it’s often confused for one. If you found this page because you want to turn it off, you’re in luck — the steps are just as simple as turning off a VPN. Start by opening Settings, then tap your name. Scroll down and tap iCloud.
Private Relay will only be active if you’re an iCloud+ subscriber. If you are, tap Private Relay, then choose whether to turn it off temporarily or indefinitely.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/how-to-turn-off-a-vpn-on-iphone-180000533.html?src=rss
Lossless data compression is an important tool for reducing the storage
requirements of the world’s ever-growing data sets. Yann Collet developed
the LZ4
algorithm and designed the Zstandard (or Zstd)
algorithm; he came to the 2025
Open Source Summit Japan in Tokyo to talk about where data compression
goes from here. It turns out that we have reached a point where
general-purpose algorithms are only going to provide limited improvement;
for significant increases in compression, while keeping computation costs
within reason for data-center use, turning to format-specific techniques
will be needed.
On Tuesday, Bandcamp announced on Reddit that it will no longer permit AI-generated music on its platform. “Music and audio that is generated wholly or in substantial part by AI is not permitted on Bandcamp,” the company wrote in a post to the r/bandcamp subreddit. The new policy also prohibits “any use of AI tools to impersonate other artists or styles.”
The policy draws a line that some in the music community have debated: Where does tool use end and full automation begin? AI models are not artists in themselves, since they lack personhood and creative intent. But people do use AI tools to make music, and the spectrum runs from using AI for minor assistance (cleaning up audio, suggesting chord progressions) to typing a prompt and letting a model generate an entire track. Bandcamp’s policy targets the latter end of that spectrum while leaving room for human artists who incorporate AI tools into a larger creative process.
The announcement emphasized the platform’s desire to protect its community of human artists. “The fact that Bandcamp is home to such a vibrant community of real people making incredible music is something we want to protect and maintain,” the company wrote. Bandcamp asked users to flag suspected AI-generated content through its reporting tools, and the company said it reserves “the right to remove any music on suspicion of being AI generated.”
A new merge request opened today for Mesa’s Radeon Vulkan driver “RADV” by Valve contractor Natalie Vock provides another significant boost for the Vulkan ray-tracing performance in multiple titles…
Put bluntly, Canonical is trying to sell a solution to a problem it is creating