Posts with «author_name|igor bonifacic» label

Apple’s latest iPad drops to $399 at Amazon

If you missed the chance to buy the 2022 iPad when it was $30 off, don’t worry: the tablet has hit a new all-time low price on Amazon. After an 11 percent discount, the base 64GB model of the 10th-generation iPad is $399. All four colorways – blue, pink, silver and yellow – are part of the promotion. Amazon has also discounted select 256GB models by $50.

Buy Apple iPad at Amazon - $399

The 2022 iPad features several upgrades over its dated predecessor, but a higher price and a few odd design choices make it harder to recommend without caveats. Apple redesigned its entry-level tablet to give it thinner bezels, a bigger display and USB-C charging. It’s also the first iPad to include a landscape-oriented front-facing camera, a feature that makes the tablet more useful for video chatting. The 2022 model’s A14 Bionic processor is also a highlight. But then there’s the fact Apple’s latest tablet is $120 more expensive than its 9th-generation counterpart and only supports the first-generation Apple Pencil. At a more affordable $399, however, it’s easier to overlook some of those flaws.

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‘The Callisto Protocol’ patch attempts to address PC performance issues

One day after releasing The Callisto Protocol to mixed reviews, developer Striking Distance Studios is rolling out a patch to address the PC version’s stuttering issues. The studio promised the hotfix would “improve performance,” adding that “a number of additional updates” were on the way.

We’re aware that some users are experiencing stuttering issues on the PC. We’ve got a patch that will be available in a few hours to improve performance, with a number of additional updates on the way.

— The Callisto Protocol (@CallistoTheGame) December 2, 2022

Since its release, PC players have taken to YouTube, Reddit and other online forums to complain about The Callisto Protocol’s performance issues. On Steam, the game currently holds a “Mixed” score after nearly 10,000 player reviews, with the majority of negative posts complaining about the game’s technical shortcomings.

Digital Foundry details the problems in its recent video on the game. According to the outlet, The Callisto Protocol doesn’t precompile its shaders. That’s a big no-no for an Unreal Engine 4 game on PC. Nearly every time The Callisto Protocol introduces new assets or shows something for the first time, players can expect massive stuttering, with the effect worse on PCs with older and less powerful CPUs.

How much the first patch fixes the shader compilation issue is hard to say. Some Twitter users report a “huge” difference, but note the problem isn’t completely fixed. Watching the few YouTube videos that document how the update affects performance, you can still see still plenty of micro stutters. If you want to play The Callisto Protocol on PC, I would say your best bet is to wait before buying the game.

Stunning ‘The Last of Us' trailer puts Joel and Ellie's relationship in the spotlight

If the wait to watch HBO's adaptation of The Last of Us wasn't long enough already, the network has shared a new trailer for the upcoming series ahead of its January 15th release date. Clocking in at almost two-and-a-half minutes long, the clip offers our best look yet at the Craig Mazin (Chernobyl) production. And for those who may have worried that the series would hew too closely to Naughty Dog's source material, it shows the adaptation's creators weren't afraid to bring something new to the franchise. 

That's on display early on when there's a short scene of Ellie pretending to be a clicker. The exchange that follows is one of the few light-hearted moments in the trailer. Later in the clip, eagle-eyed fans will spot Ashley Johnson, the actor who voiced Ellie in the video games.  

If you're unfamiliar with The Last of Us, the trailer serves as a decent overview of the first game's story. At the center of the narrative are Joel and Ellie, played by Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey in the upcoming HBO series. Joel must escort Ellie across a post-apocalyptic version of the US in the hopes that she may be the key to protecting what's left of the world's population from a fungal infection that turns its victims into aggressive, zombie-like creatures known as the Infected.    

From all the marketing material HBO has shared to promote The Last of Us, it's clear the network has high hopes for the series. Footage from the show capped off a sizzle reel HBO uploaded earlier this year to hype its 2023 slate. 

Netflix's latest 'The Witcher: Blood Origin' trailer teases the appearance of a certain bard

With its latest Witcher franchise spinoff scheduled to arrive on December 25th, Netflix has shared a new trailer for The Witcher: Blood Origin. The approximately two-minute-long clip expands on the teaser the company uploaded last month. After most of Netflix's past promotional material for Blood Origin focused on Michelle Yeoh's character Scian, the latest trailer gives her co-stars, including Sophia Brown and Laurence O’Fuarain, a chance to shine. It probably won't surprise you to find out they're all badasses in their own way.

Set some 1,200 years before the story of Geralt and Ciri, Blood Origin promises to give fans more insight into the creation of the first witcher. You'll want to watch the clip through to the end to catch a glimpse of Jaskier (Joey Batey). It looks like everyone's favorite bard will work alongside Minnie Driver to immortalize the exploits of Scian's band of elves. When Driver announced she was joining The Witcher franchise back in September, she said her character would play a pivotal role "in connecting Blood Origin's past with The Witcher's future."

Blood Origin comes during a period of uncertainty for Netflix'sThe Witcher. The company recently announced that Henry Cavill would not return to play Geralt of Rivia after the show's third season. Liam Hemsworth will carry the series moving forward.

Twitter reinstates account of The Daily Stormer’s infamous neo-Nazi creator

Twitter has restored the account of Andrew Anglin, one of America’s most notorious neo-Nazis. The creator of the white supremacist website The Daily Stormer had been banned from the social media platform for nearly a decade. His return would appear to be part of Elon Musk’s offer of “general amnesty” to users who had “not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam.” Anglin, it should be noted, is currently in hiding while attempting to avoid a 2019 court order to pay $14 million for leading a harassment campaign against Jewish residents in Montana.

Neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who was booted off Twitter in 2013, has had his account restored. pic.twitter.com/sEv5UDVUw2

— Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) December 2, 2022

Shortly after regaining control of his account, Anglin tweeted a defense of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. “Saying you love Hitler is not even a big deal,” Anglin said, referencing Ye’s recent InfoWars interview. “No one cares about that. The man died 80 years ago.” Ye’s now-infamous interview with Alex Jones saw the rapper declare his “love” for Adolf Hitler and deny that the Holocaust had ever happened. Anglin later tweeted an endorsement of Ye’s 2024 presidential campaign.

The reinstatement comes in the same week Twitter suspended Ye for tweeting a photo of the Star of David merged with a swastika. Anglin is only one of a few prominent white nationalists to return to Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company. One estimate by software engineer Travis Brown suggests Twitter has restored as many as 12,000 accounts since October 27th, including those belonging to Richard Spencer and Patrick Casey.

White nationalist Patrick Casey, who has repeatedly ban evaded on Twitter, (https://t.co/qjFcmNTyOa), claimed that he has been reinstated on the platform. Casey thanked Twitter owner Elon Musk for the supposed development. pic.twitter.com/bf5ROtwELa

— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) November 30, 2022

The return of even just one avowed neo-Nazi is likely to reinforce fears from civil rights groups, advertisers and governments over Elon Musk's handling of the platform. On November 26th, the billionaire claimed hate speech impressions had recently decreased compared to October last year. However, findings from the Center for Countering Digital Hate, the Anti-Defamation League and other groups that study online platforms suggest that there’s been a dramatic increase in the prevalence of hate speech on Twitter since Musk’s takeover.

Judge dismisses indictment against Huawei exec Meng Wanzhou

More than four years after her arrest, the drawn-out legal saga of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou came to a formal end this week. On Friday, US District Judge Ann Donnelly dismissed an indictment against Meng, according to Reuters. On behalf of the US, Canadian authorities arrested Meng in 2018 for allegedly violating American sanctions against Iran. Meng, who is also the daughter of Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, spent the next three years fighting attempts to extradite her to the US, where she faced up to 30 years in prison for bank and wire fraud charges. Donnelly dismissed the indictment “with prejudice,” meaning the Justice Department can’t bring the same charges against Meng again.

Before entering into an agreement with US prosecutors last year, Meng spent three years under house arrest. The detainment strained relationships between the United States and China and led to an international incident. China apprehended two Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig, within days of Meng’s arrest. They were later released after Meng entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department. As part of the agreement, she acknowledged having made false statements about Huawei’s business in Iran. Meng flew home to China the day Donnelly approved the pact.

Huawei and its subsidiaries are still facing charges in the US. Most notably, the Justice Department recently announced charges against two Chinese spies who had allegedly tried to interfere in a criminal investigation into the company. Earlier this week, the FCC also banned telecom and video surveillance equipment from Huawei, among a handful of other Chinese companies. Meng currently serves as the company's rotating chairperson and deputy chairwoman, as well as CFO. 

LinkedIn's Focused Inbox sifts through spammy DMs so you don't have to

I don’t know about your LinkedIn experience, but each time I visit the website I find my inbox flooded with messages. Most aren’t even worth reading, but a few inevitably promise new career opportunities and the chance to work with interesting people.

LinkedIn wants to make it easier to find those messages quickly. Starting today, the social network is rolling out a new feature called Focused Inbox. It separates your inbox into two tabs titled “Focused” and “Other.” A machine learning algorithm will then do its best to flag messages that include the most relevant outreach to you and push them to the top of the Focused tab. If you don’t find the feature useful, you can switch to the old interface at any time.

LinkedIn’s hope is that the feature helps people be more productive. The Focused Inbox comes at a time when the company says more of its users are turning to its instant messaging feature to communicate. In the last year, LinkedIn says it has seen a 20 percent increase in those types of chats.

YouTube is repeatedly crashing for some iOS users but a fix is on the way

Google is working to fix an issue that is causing the YouTube mobile app to repeatedly crash for some iOS users. “Hi, we’re aware that many of you using the YouTube app on iOS devices may be experiencing crashes,” the company said in a tweet caught by The Verge. “We’re so sorry about this & have begun working on a fix! Updates soon.”

hi, we're aware that many of you using the YouTube app on iOS devices may be experiencing crashes

we're so sorry about this & have begun working on a fix! updates soon🔍

— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) November 30, 2022

As of the writing of this article, YouTube has yet to share more information on the situation. Google did not immediately respond to a comment request from Engadget. We’ll update this article once there’s more information to share. It’s unclear how widespread the problem is among iOS users. On my iPhone, I was able to watch this incredible video of the Artemis 1 launch synced to “Free Bird” without issue during my lunch break. However, Downdetector indicates there have been more than 7,500 reports in the US of the app not working.

Elden Ring's score will get the jazz treatment thanks to Kenny Garrett and Takuya Kuroda

With the popularity of video games, concerts devoted to the music of franchises like Final Fantasy and Assassin’s Creed are a frequent occurrence at music venues worldwide. However, you rarely see two jazz legends reinterpret your favorite gaming tracks. That’s what makes the event Elden Ring publisher Bandai Namco announced today so intriguing. On December 3rd, former Duke Ellington Orchestra member Kenny Garrett will join trumpeter Takuya Kuroda, best known for his album Rising Son, to play two shows at The Bourbon Room in Holywood. They will play music from FromSoftware’s latest action RPG.

With the official score featuring 67 tracks, Kuroda and Garrett have a lot of material they could reinterpret. You have to imagine Malenia’s theme will make an appearance. “If I were to pick one word to describe this project, it’s epic,” Kuroda said in a video Bandai Namco released promoting the concert series. Garrett, meanwhile, promised it would be “something different” from what he’s done in the past.

Unfortunately, there’s no free way to watch the event. In a chart reminiscent of the one Sega published before the release of Sonic Origins, Bandai Namco notes you can watch a VOD of the concert after it’s over for $15. Watching the event live over the internet will set you back at least $25. In-person tickets, meanwhile, start at $75 and go all the way up to $200, depending on the extras you want. You can find more details on Bandai Namco’s site.

The second 'Super Mario Bros.' trailer reveals Donkey Kong and Rainbow Road

Nintendo has released a new trailer for its upcoming Super Mario Bros. movie. After the short teaser the gaming giant offered at the start of last month, the new clip offers a better insight into what fans can expect from the film. Not only do we hear more of Chris Pratt as Mario, but also Anya Taylor-Joy and Seth Rogan make appearances as Princess Peach and Donkey Kong. Oh, and the best part is that the film will include a nod to the Mario Kart series with a visit to Rainbow Road.

According to Mario and Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo redesigned Donkey Kong's model for the first time since the loveable ape made the jump to 3D in 1994's Donkey Kong Country. "Some of you may have noticed, but for this movie, we seized the opportunity to give a comical personality and design reminiscent of the original character," Miyamoto said.

Super Mario Bros. will premiere on April 7th, 2023.