Fox News host Dan Bongino is no longer welcome on YouTube. The company confirmed to The Hillthat Bongino is now permanently banned from its video platform, after he attempted to evade a prior suspension related to COVID-19 misinformation. The conservative commentator apparently published a video on his main channel while another channel was suspended, thereby violating YouTube's Terms of Service. Bongino's two channels have been removed from the service, and he won't be able to make any future channels, YouTube representatives told The Hill.
Last September, YouTube announced that it would ban all content related to vaccine misinformation, which was an expansion on its previous ban against COVID-19 misinformation. At the time, YouTube also banned prominent anti-vax proponents like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola.
Bongino, and many other conservative commentators, have moved over to the alternative video platform Rumble. He currently has over 2 million subscribers there, whereas his primary channel had 900,000 subscribers on YouTube.
If you loved/hated Twitter's new NFT user profile pictures, get ready to feel excited/ambivalent about Reddit's offering. TechCrunch reports that Reddit is now testing an NFT profile picture implementation, though it's unclear how it'll actually look to end users. Twitter's hexagonal icons separate NFT owners from lowly round-icon proles, so we'd wager Reddit would also want some way to make crypto fans feel special.
“We’re always exploring ways to provide value for users and communities on Reddit. At the moment we’re testing the ability to use NFTs as profile pictures (avatars) and verify ownership,” Reddit spokesperson Tim Rathschmidt told TechCrunch. “It’s a small, internal test and no decisions have been made about expanding or rolling out the capability.”
Notably, TechCrunch also says Reddit isn't limiting its exclusive profile pics to owners of its own NFT project, CryptoSnoos. If the feature actually gets implemented (and given the current wave of crypto-hype, why wouldn't it?), you'll be able to display whatever NFT you'd like as you browse r/gonewild.
It's a big day for security updates in Apple-land. The company has rolled out software fixes for just about all of its platforms, including iOS 15.3 and macOS 12.2, 9to5Mac reports. Notably, they fix the Safari vulnerability that could potentially leak your browser history, as well as your Google account information. WatchOS 8.4 and tvOS 15.2, meanwhile, add some performance improvements. And even though the company isn't paying as much attention to its smart speakers these days, it launched HomePod 15.3, which adds Siri support for up to six users speaking English in India, or Italian in Italy. (That's a feature Apple started offering in the US back in 2019.)
While we normally wouldn't stress minor software updates much, iOS and macOS users should deal with that Safari vulnerability as soon as they can. Sure, there aren't any major threats taking advantage of that now, but who knows what malware could pop up in the next month or two.
The idea of a $250 graphics card seems like a pipe dream today, when unprecedented demand, scalpers and the global chip shortage have driven GPU prices into the stratosphere. Still, that's not stopping NVIDIA from trying with the new RTX 3050. It's the company's cheapest GPU yet with ray tracing, and it's meant to take on AMD's even cheaper Radeon RX 6500 XT, which has a suggested retail price of $200. While it's unclear if the 3050 will actually sell for $250 once it hits stores, it'll at least come in less than the RTX 3060, which launched at $329 but now goes for around $1,000 (not a typo) at Newegg and other retailers.
Like NVIDIA's wildly popular GTX 1050 and its other 50-class GPUs, the 3050 is meant to be an affordable way to reach 1080p/60fps while playing modern games. With newer titles like Control demanding more power from our systems, it makes sense for NVIDIA to finally deliver a budget 30-series entry. The 3050 features 2,560 CUDA cores, a boost speed of 1,777 MHz and 8GB of GDDR6 RAM, putting it well below the 3060's 3,584 CUDA cores and 8GB of RAM (not to mention its vastly faster memory interface). Still, as a 30-series GPU, it also has ray tracing and tensor cores, allowing it to tap into more realistic lighting, as well as the company's DLSS technology to boost performance.
NVIDIA is positioning the new card as a major update to the GTX 1650, which had just 896 CUDA cores and no ray tracing or tensor capabilities. (There was no RTX 2050 desktop GPU, though the company surprised us all when it announced a laptop version at CES this year.) The RTX 3050 is also more compelling on paper than the Radeon 6500 XT, which only has 4GB of memory, a much slower memory bus, and only taps into 4 PCIe lanes instead of the typical 16. AMD clearly cut as much as it could to create an inexpensive GPU for entry-level gamers, but that also makes it less future-proof than the slightly more expensive RTX 3050.
During my testing, the EVGA RTX 3050 XC Black GPU (NVIDIA isn't making any Founder's Editions this time) was able tackle every game I threw at it in 1080p, even when I cranked up the graphics settings all the way up. It averaged 140fps in Hitman 3's Dubai benchmark, making it well-suited for 144Hz refresh rate monitors. Bumping the resolution up to 1,440p halved performance to 74fps, which was a significant dip from the 3060's 110fps average. That higher resolution is definitely playable, but it's clear the 3050 is best-suited to 1080p gaming, especially if you're trying to get enough performance to justify a high-refresh rate monitor.
3DMark TimeSpy
Destiny 2
Hitman 3
Port Royal (ray tracing)
NVIDIA RTX 3050
6,702
1080p: 90 | 1440p: 60-65
1080: 140 | 1440p: 74
3,643/17fps
AMD Radeon RX 6600
8,521
1080p: 110-120 | 1440p: 75-85
1080p: 138 | 1440p: 94
3,846/17fps
NVIDIA RTX 3060 Ti
11,308
1440p: 85-110fps
4K: 45-60fps
N/A
6,989/32.36fps
All benchmarks tested on a system powered by a Ryzen 7 5800X, 32GB of RAM and Samsung 970 EVO Plus SSD.
In Destiny 2, the 3050 hit a 90fps average in 1080p and 65fps in 1,440p with the highest graphics settings. Those are decent scores if you want all of the best visual flourishes, but I'd wager many gamers would step some of those settings down for better framerates. I was most impressed with how the GPU handled Control, which is still one of the more demanding games around. It reached 65fps on average in 1080p with maxed out graphics (but no ray tracing). When I flipped on DLSS, which rendered the game at 720p and used AI to upscale it to 1080p, the framerate jumped to a silkier 90fps. And surprisingly enough, it was perfectly playable at 70fps when I turned on medium ray tracing settings along with DLSS. Not bad for a (supposedly) $250 video card!
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
As for typical benchmarks, like 3DMark's suite, it's best you don't look at those. The 3050 is clearly much slower than the rest of NVIDIA's lineup, so you're better off ignoring what you're missing. What's important is that it's an affordable card that can play demanding games well in 1080p, and in some cases it'll even get you to 1440p. And thanks to its relatively tame performance, it also doesn't generate much heat or noise. It stayed at a surprisingly cool 60 Celsius under load.
I didn't have an RTX 6500 XT to compare it to, but judging from the reviews and its specs, you'll have a hard time reaching any Ultra-level 1080p gaming with that GPU. AMD purposefully hampered its memory to make it less appealing to cryptominers. That plan may have actually succeeded, as its price is now hovering between $250 and $300 on Newegg.
Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
It'll be interesting to see just how far the RTX 3050's price jumps after its release. But based on what we know so far, it's an absolute steal if you can nab it for $250, and for many gamers it'll be worth paying several hundred more. At the moment, it's the only way to get an NVIDIA 3000-series card without paying over $1,000.
Microsoft's overall business is still going strong, even though it's not seeing the shockingly huge profit growth it saw last year. In its Q2 earnings report today, company reported revenue of $51.7 billion (up 20 percent from last year) with profits of $18.8 billion (up 21 percent). As usual, Microsoft has its unstoppable cloud business to thank, as well as a decent showing from its PC group, Office and other business products. Its Intelligent Cloud business grew by 26 percent, reaching $18.3 billion, while its Productivity and Business group saw revenues increase by 19 percent to reach $15.9 billion.
There weren't any true major weak links this quarter — even Surface revenue, which Microsoft previously expected to dip a bit, grew by 8 percent thanks to strong Surface Laptop sales. Windows OEM revenues also increased by 25 percent, not a huge surprise since the overall PC industry is still going strong. Where the PC business goes, Microsoft's revenues will follow, after all. When it comes to Office, the company says its consumer revenue increased by 15 percent, and that it has reached 56.4 million Microsoft 365 subscribers.
While Microsoft's earnings reports have basically looked the same over the last few years — Cloud good! Revenues grow! — the company's numbers will look a bit different once it finalizes its $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard in 2023. At the very least, we'll get to see how much the new Microsoft Gaming division actually helps (or hurts) Microsoft's overall business.
Mark Zuckerberg's vision of a sanitized, hypercapitalist metaverse will likely never be as compelling or idiosyncratic as VRChat, the virtual reality community that's been home to anime fans, Furries and a slew of other sub-cultures since 2014. That's my main takeaway from We Met in Virtual Reality, the first documentary filmed entirely in VRChat, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival today.
There's no chance Zuck's metaverse would let people wear trademarked avatars without paying a ton, attend exotic clubs to receive (or give) virtual lapdances, or allow users to build whatever the hell they want. VRChat, as portrayed by director Joe Hunting, is basically a proto-metaverse where anything is possible. And for many, it has served as a crucial social hub during the pandemic, a place where they can forget about the world, relax with friends and maybe find love.
But of course, that's been the nature of practically every online community. We're social animals — people have always been able to connect with each other over BBS, IRC, Usenet and the plethora of forums and chat services that populated the early internet. I spent most of the '90s hanging out in anime and gaming chat rooms, the sorts of places that today's connected youth would probably find quaint. Still, the people I met there helped me survive the worst parts of middle and high school. Those relationships, and the internet itself, shaped me into who I am (for better or worse).
We Met in Virtual Reality proves that the unbridled, experimental sense of online community is still alive and well today, despite relentless consolidation from Big Tech. But now, instead of staring at tiny CRT monitors, people are slapping on VR headsets to explore fully realized environments. Hardcore VRChat users are also investing in powerful computing rigs as well as upgrades like finger and whole-body tracking. In the '90s, I was grateful to get another 16MB of RAM so that I could have more than one browser window open. Today, VRChat devotees can communicate using American Sign Language, or have their anime avatars show off their belly dancing skills.
Hunting approaches his subjects with the eye of an anthropologist, without any judgment towards their sometimes ridiculous avatars (do all the anime ladies need to have jiggly, Dead or Alive-level boob physics?). We Met in Virtual Reality begins as a chill hangout flick — we follow a group of friends as they have virtual drinks and go on joyrides in crudely-built VR cars — but it quickly moves beyond the novelty of its setting. One person credits their VRChat girlfriend for helping them to "unmute" after being silent for two years. An exotic performer explains that being able to dance for people in VRChat helped her grieve with a family tragedy and manage a bout of alcoholism.
Joe Hunting
The film chronicles how that exotic dancer, a young woman based in the UK, formed a romantic relationship with another VRChat user in Miami. These sorts of cyber relationships aren’t anything new, but the VR platform allowed them to do much more than trade links and memes over IM. They could exist in a space together, go on dates to new environments every night. I won’t spoil where things end up for the couple, but I can say that it wouldn’t have been nearly as effective outside of VR.
We Met in Virtual Reality effectively conveys why people would gravitate towards VRChat, especially during a pandemic. But it doesn't fully capture the wonder of exploring these environments yourself. Seeing people hop on a virtual rollercoaster isn't nearly as thrilling as doing it, where your entire field of vision is covered and you can easily get vertigo. But I don't blame Hunting too much for that; his job was to boil down the VR experience so people can enjoy it on a 2D screen, and the film is mostly successful in that respect. The film was shot using a virtual camera that could mimic all of the functionality of a typical shooter, from focus points to aperture levels. So even though it's produced in an alien environment most people aren't familiar with, it still feels like a traditional documentary.
Hunting has spent the past few years making VR documentaries, starting with a few short films, as well as the series Virtually Speaking. It’s clear from We Met in Virtual Reality that he’s not just dropping into the community for a quick story. Instead, he sees the humanity behind the avatars and virtual connections. These people aren't just escaping from their lives with VR — their lives are being made richer because of it.
Now that the James Webb Space Telescope is safely on the way to its orbital home, Cherlynn and Devindra chat about why it’s so important with Space.com editor-in-chief Tariq Malik, as well as science and technology journalist Swapna Krishna. They dive into why it’s such a big upgrade from Hubble, as well as the discoveries astronomers hope to make about exoplanets, black holes and our own solar system. Also, Senior Editor Jessica Conditt joins to chat about Microsoft’s mammoth $68.7 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. Is more consolidating a bad thing for the video game industry? (Spoilers: Probably.)
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
James Webb Space Telescope post-launch update – 1:07
Microsoft buys Activision/Blizzard for $68.7 billion – 31:03
Working On – 58:46
Pop Culture Picks – 1:01:06
Video livestream
Credits Hosts: Cherlynn Low and Devindra Hardawar Guests: Tariq Malik and Swapna Krishna Producer: Ben Ellman Music: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien Livestream producers: Julio Barrientos and Luke Brooks Graphic artists: Luke Brooks, Kyle Maack
Splitgate, the sci-fi portal shooter that transported me back to carefree Quake 3 Arena days, is getting a slew of updates on January 27th with its Beta Season One update. There's a map builder for constructing and sharing stages with friends, a 100 level battle pass, as well as new One Flag CTF and Evolution modes. (The latter gives the losing team of every round increasingly powerful weapons.) Developer 1047 Games also says the Foregone Destruction map is getting a major fidelity bump, which should be a sign of similar upgrades coming to other maps.
“Our custom map creator will continue to evolve alongside the rest of the game,” Ian Proulx, CEO of 1047 Games, said in a statement. “We’re looking at the map creator as an evolutionary tool driven by the community — it’s a robust feature for fans to play with day one of our new season, and we’re really interested in hearing feedback from the community regarding the types of features and tools they want.”
All of this sounds like great news for Splitgate fans—at least, the few who've stuck around. According to SteamDB, the game is currently seeing 1,000 to 2,500 players per day, a far cry from its 67,000 player peak five months ago. I'd wager the launch of Halo Infinite's free multiplayer mode in December didn't help (that's where all my free time has been spent lately), but Splitgate's popularity has also steadily dropped since its open beta last August.
Sure, it was impressive that Splitgate hit 10 million downloads in under 30 days, but with the plethora of free shooters out there, 1047 Games will need to do more to actually keep people interested for the game's full release. A hardcore fanbase isn't enough.
Automakers have been pursuing the dream of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles for decades — who wouldn't want a car that runs on renewable hydrogen and only emits water vapor? But many challenges, from designing cars that can easily hold the fuel, to setting up reliable hydrogen distribution, have made it difficult to turn that dream into a reality. But what if you used those fuel cells to set up a remote EV charging station, or to replace a traditional gas or diesel generator for a large camp? That's what GM is planning to do with its HYDROTEC fuel cell technology, the company announced today.
GM
GM's Mobile Power Generators, or MPGs, are pretty self descriptive: they'd basically let you bring large amounts of electricity anywhere without burning fossil fuels, or expanding a local power grid. It could be useful for concerts, movie sets, or neighborhoods that frequently lose power. (In my town outside of Atlanta, almost everyone owns a gas generator to deal with storm-related outages.)
The announcement also makes plenty of sense for GM, as it's already bringing its fuel cell technology to trucking, aerospace and rail partners. The company says the MPGs will be able to spit out 60 to 600 kilowatts without producing much noise or heat.
GM plans to show off an MPG-powered EV charging station in the middle of 2022, a project co-funded by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the U.S. Army. Additionally, the California Energy Commission is exploring how MPGs could help provide energy during power shutdowns. GM is also working together with Renewable Innovations to build the EMPOWER rapid charger, which could deliver fast EV charging to existing stations without the need for huge infrastructure improvements. Taking things to an even more extreme level, there's a large MPG implementation that could potentially power large military camps and heavy-duty equipment. (And as a bonus, those camps can actually use the water the MPG emits.)
While it'll likely be years before MPGs can actually deployed, it's heartening to see GM explore uses for fuel cells outside of cars. Battery-powered EVs have evolved so quickly that hydrogen-powered cars don't have much of a future (sorry, Toyota). So it's about time we start considering other ways fuel cells could help.
It’s that time of the year again! Cherlynn and Devindra break down some of the best tech they’ve seen at CES 2022, as well as a bunch of weird and awful products. Get ready for notebooks with hybrid Intel chips and better NVIDIA graphics! And how about a foldable laptop or two? Our big takeaway: it’s going to be an interesting year for Windows laptops. Also, we dive into Razer’s crazy gaming table and Samsung’s wild, rotating 55-inch gaming monitor.
Listen above, or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcasts, the Morning After and Engadget News!
