In a surprising turn of events, AMD has announced a new processor for its aging AM4 platform. The Ryzen 5 5600X3D brings the company’s 3D V-Cache technology to a six-core, 12-thread processor. Moreover, AMD plans to sell the CPU for a modest $229, but there’s a catch. The company will only offer the new processor through Micro Center, a US retailer that, as Ars Technica notes, doesn’t ship most of what it sells to online shoppers. What’s more, stock of the 5600X3D will be limited, with sales of the CPU to end once Micro Center runs out of supplies.

All of that is a shame because the 5600X3D could be a great upgrade for those looking to extend the life of their AM4 motherboard and get a bit of extra gaming performance. Like the 5800X3D, the 5600X3D trades slower clock speeds and more power consumption for a 96MB L3 cache. With the 5800X3D, that’s a combination of features that makes for a processor that is slower at some tasks, but generally great for gaming. The expanded L3 cache frequently translates to less bottlenecking in games, meaning you can get the most performance possible from your GPU. Moreover, the fact that it's an AM4 processor means you can save on a new build since you won't need to go buy DDR5 RAM.  

The 5600X3D will go on sale on July 7th.

Twitter has begun aggressively limiting how many tweets users can view per day. On Saturday afternoon, Elon Musk said the company would restrict unverified accounts to reading 600 posts per day, and new accounts to only 300 tweets daily. Meanwhile, Twitter will allow verified accounts to read 6,000 posts each day. For most people, that means short of paying for Twitter Blue, they will be able to spend about a minute or two on Twitter before encountering a "rate limit exceeded" error.      

Musk claimed the "temporary" limits were put in place to address "extreme levels of data scraping" and "system manipulation." The day before, Twitter began preventing people who aren't logged into the site from viewing tweets. Like the usage limit, Musk has claimed the login restriction will only be temporary, and that it was done in response to data scrapers. “Several hundred organizations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively, to the point where it was affecting the real user experience,” Musk said Friday. 

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

On late Saturday morning, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the European Space Agency’s Euclid spacecraft successfully lifted off Cape Canaveral, Florida. The near-infrared telescope, named after the ancient Greek mathematician who is widely considered the father of geometry, will study how dark matter and dark energy shape the universe.

In addition to a 600-megapixel camera astronomers will use to image a third of the night sky over the next six years, Euclid is equipped with a near-infrared spectrometer and photometer for measuring the redshift of galaxies. In conjunction with data from ground observatories, that information will assist scientists with estimating the distance between different galaxies. As The New York Times notes, one hope of physicists is that Euclid will allow them to determine whether Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity works differently on a cosmic scale. There’s a genuine possibility the spacecraft could revolutionize our understanding of physics and even offer a glimpse of the ultimate fate of the universe.

“If we want to understand the universe we live in, we need to uncover the nature of dark matter and dark energy and understand the role they played in shaping our cosmos,” said Carole Mundell, the ESA’s director of science. “To address these fundamental questions, Euclid will deliver the most detailed map of the extra-galactic sky.”

With Euclid now in space, it will travel approximately a million miles to the solar system’s second Lagrange point. That’s the same area of space where the James Webb Space Telescope has been operating for the past year. It will take Euclid about a month to travel there, and another three months for the ESA to test the spacecraft’s instruments before Euclid can begin sending data back to Earth.

On early Friday afternoon, internet users began noticing that Twitter was no longer allowing people to view tweets if they weren’t signed into the service. At the time, it was hard to tell if the change was the result of a technical error or an intentional decision by the company’s leadership. Later in the day, however, Elon Musk addressed the issue.

“Temporary emergency measure,” he claimed in a tweet. “We were getting data pillaged so much that it was degrading service for normal users!” Musk subsequently shared more context. “Several hundred organizations (maybe more) were scraping Twitter data extremely aggressively, to the point where it was affecting the real user experience,” he said, replying to a tweet from Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney lamenting the “increasingly broken” state of the internet. In a separate tweet, spotted by Mashable, Twitter engineer Aqueel Miqdad said the company would re-enable logged-out access “in the near future.”

Of course, without more information, it’s hard to tell if Twitter users are experiencing degraded service because of the data scrapers Musk claims are targeting the platform so aggressively. There’s not a team at Twitter that Musk’s cost-cutting hasn’t touched. In fact, the group responsible for maintaining the stability of Twitter’s servers has seen its fair share of layoffs and high-profile departures. In June, the company had also not paid its Google Cloud contract for several months.

One of 2022’s cutest – and dare I say best – games is heading to Xbox. Annapurna Interactive announced today that Blue Twelve Studio’s Stray will arrive on Xbox One and Series X/S on August 10th. 

Stray, for those who don’t know, casts you as an adorable tabby cat in a cyberpunk, post-human world. This short and sweet adventure will take you only about five to 10 hours to complete, but will leave you thinking about its thoughtful and poignant story long after the credits roll.

It’s also one of the most fun games I played last year. Stray perfectly captures all the charm and mischief of our feline friends. There’s a dedicated button for meowing, and all of the environmental puzzles push you to think from the perspective of a cat. Best of all, you can lie down to nap nearly whenever you want. No word yet if Microsoft will offer Stray through Xbox Game Pass, but we’ll update this article once we know more.

A decent smartphone used to cost upwards of $500, but those days are thankfully over. Now it’s possible to find something that meets most of your needs for as little as $160. However, navigating the budget phone market can be tricky. Many options that look good on paper often aren’t great in use, and some handsets will end up costing you more when you consider many come with restrictive storage. This guide will help you find a bargain and highlight our top picks for the best cheap phones you can buy right now.

What to look for in a cheap phone

For this guide, our recommendations cost between $100 and $300. Anything less and you might as well go buy a dumb phone or high-end calculator instead. Since they’re meant to be more affordable than their flagship and midrange siblings, entry-level smartphones involve compromises; the cheaper a device, the lower your expectations around performance and experience should be. For that reason, the best advice I can give is to spend as much as you can afford. In this price range, even $50 or $100 more can get you a dramatically better product.

Second, you should know what you want most from a phone. When buying a budget device, you may need to sacrifice a decent camera for a long-lasting battery or trade a high-resolution display for a faster processor. That’s just what comes with the territory, but knowing your priorities will make it easier to find the right phone.

It’s also worth noting some features can be hard to find on cheap handsets. For instance, you won’t need to search far for a device with all-day battery life — but if you want a great camera, you’re better off shelling out for one of the recommendations in our midrange smartphone guide, which all come in at $600 or less. Wireless charging and waterproofing also aren’t easy to find in this price range and forget about a fast processor. On the bright side, all our recommendations come with headphone jacks, so you won’t need to get wireless headphones.

iOS is also off the table, since the most affordable handset Apple sells is the $400 iPhone SE. That leaves Android as the only option. Thankfully, in 2023, there’s little to complain about Google’s OS – and you may even prefer it to iOS. Lastly, keep in mind most Android manufacturers typically offer far less robust software support for their budget devices. In some cases, your new phone may only receive one major Android update and a year or two of security patches beyond that. That applies to the OnePlus and Motorola recommendations on our list. If you’d like to keep your phone for as long as possible, Samsung has the best software policy of any Android manufacturer in the budget space, offering four years of security updates on all of its devices.

The best budget phone: OnePlus Nord N30 5G

The recently announced $300 OnePlus Nord N30 5G offers the best value of any of the smartphones on our list. No other phone in the price bracket features a processor as fast as the N30’s Snapdragon 695 5G. Moreover, OnePlus has specced the N30 with a generous 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, meaning you probably won’t need to budget for a microSD card or cloud storage. It also comes with a 120Hz IPS display, a feature that’s great for both gaming and everyday use. Best of all, the N30 ships with a 50W power adapter that you can use to get a full day of battery life in 30 minutes. The N30 would be almost perfect if it had waterproofing and OnePlus had committed to pushing more than one major Android update to the phone.

Another great option: Samsung Galaxy A14 5G

Don’t let the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G’s modest price and uninspired design fool you — it has a lot to offer. For $200, you get a phone that is surprisingly fast and features a competent camera. Additionally, it has NFC connectivity for contactless payments, something you won’t find on a lot of phones in this price range. Battery life is also excellent, coming in at two days with moderate use. Plus, there’s that great software policy I mentioned above, with Samsung promising to support the A14 with two major Android updates and four years of security patches. The only thing missing from the A14 is waterproofing, so you may want to opt for something sturdier if you live by the beach or like to doomscroll in the tub.

An ultra-budget pick: Samsung Galaxy A03s

If you want to spend as little as possible but still want something from a reputable brand, the $160 Samsung Galaxy A03s is your best bet. Thanks to its MediaTek Helio P35 processor, the A03s performs better than you would expect. Unfortunately, the phone feels about as cheap as it costs and the camera isn’t much better. Oh, and did I mention the A03s ships with a measly 32GB of internal storage? In other words, be prepared to buy a microSD card to store all your photos and music. Thankfully, the A03s, like its more expensive sibling, will receive four years of security updates from Samsung. You won’t find that kind of software support on any other handset in the sub-$200 category.

Honorable mention: Motorola Moto G Stylus

The $200 Motorola Moto G Stylus offers something none of the other picks on this list do: a built-in stylus. If you love doodling and jotting down notes, then this is the cheap phone to buy. Thankfully, it has a few other things going for it too. The Moto G Stylus sports a big and responsive 6.5-inch display and a long-lasting 5,000mAh battery. Plus, it’s available in two lovely colors: midnight blue and glam pink.

As with other options in this price range, it would be nice if the Moto G Stylus came with a more capable camera, a fast charger and better protection against water. One word of advice: steer clear of Moto G Stylus 5G. It doesn’t offer enough of an upgrade to justify costing $400.

Blizzard is bringing hardcore servers to World of Warcraft Classic. Inspired by the game’s popular “Death = Delete” community add-on, the mode limits any character you create to exactly one life. If your hero dies, running back to their body as a ghost won’t bring them back to life, nor can someone else resurrect your character with a class ability like the Shaman’s Ancestral Spirit spell. You also can’t use abilities like the Warlock’s Soulstone spell to bring your character back to life on their own. Oh, and Paladins won’t be able to bubble hearth out of sticky situations.

Your character won’t disappear after they die. Instead, they will remain as a ghost, so you can stay in touch with guildmates and any friends you met during your adventure. And if you want to continue playing your character after their untimely demise, Blizzard will offer free transfers to non-hardcore servers.

This being World of Warcraft we’re talking about, you have to imagine some people will try to trick other players into killing their own characters. To that point, Blizzard says Classic Hardcore will feature restrictions not found in other versions of the game. For instance, you won’t be able to kite a monster from one area to another in hopes of it terrorizing low-level characters. You also will need to deliberately flag yourself for PvP combat before you can attack another player. “We’ve added this failsafe to prevent situations in which a player could unintentionally take aggressive action against another player who is flagged for PvP, and unwittingly flag themselves,” notes Blizzard.

Speaking of PvP, Classic Hardcore will feature less of an emphasis on player-versus-player combat. You can’t queue for battlegrounds, for example, but Blizzard is introducing a new dueling mechanic that allows players to challenge one another to a fight to the death. Slaying an opposing player in such a duel will impart a permanent cosmetic buff called “String of Ears” on your character that tracks the number of players you’ve successfully taken down.

Hardcore servers will arrive in World of Warcraft Classic before the end of summer. Before then, a public test build of the new mode will go live on June 29th.

It’s Wednesday, which means it’s the perfect time to waste away a few minutes attempting to solve the internet’s latest obsession. If you’re on Twitter, you may have noticed some chatter about The Password Game, a browser experience that will test your creativity, patience and sanity.

Ostensibly, the goal of the game is to create a password no one hacker could possibly crack, and the experience starts out simple enough. “Your password must be at least 5 characters,” states rule one, while rule four asks that all the digits in your password add up to 25. Then, things start to become progressively more unhinged. Rule seven demands you include a Roman numeral, only for rule nine to then tell that you need a handful of Roman numerals that equal 35 when multiplied. Eventually, your password will also need to reference today’s Wordle and the current phase of the moon written as an emoji. Oh, and at one point a clock is added to the game in the form of a caterpillar you must keep alive. Don't ask. Some of the demands are so esoteric Google’s autocomplete feature has started to adapt to them.

“There are rules in this game that ensure I will never see the pearly gates,” wrote Neal Agarwal, the creator of The Password Game. Agarwal’s Twitter mentions are full of people cursing him for creating such a devious challenge. Some, however, have managed to get to the end. “I can’t believe people are actually beating the Password Game,” Agarwal wrote on Wednesday. “The human spirit is strong.” As for me, I’m scrubbing it out here at rule 15, trying to avoid doing some tricky math. But I promise you, I will succeed, even if it kills me or that damn caterpillar. 

For nearly eight years, Joe Tung was responsible for leading development on Riot’s hit MOBA, League of Legends. At the end of 2020, he left the company to cofound Theorycraft Games. Since then, the studio, which employs people who contributed to League, Valorant, Overwatch, the Halo series, Destiny and Apex Legends, has been quietly working away on its first project, a game codenamed Project Loki. Before today, only a handful of content creators and pro-gamers have had the chance to play Loki. That’s about to change, with Theorycraft announcing a two-day PC playtest that will start tomorrow, June 29th.

Theorycraft describes Project Loki as a squad-based hero battleground. Imagine a game that has MOBA-like heroes who need to nail skill shots to perform their best. Now, instead of pitting those characters against one another on a map with minion lanes and towers, you force them to fight on a large, Fortnite-inspired battleground. That’s the pitch of Project Loki, and the studio hopes it turns out to be the next game you decide to spend 10,000 hours playing with your friends. One thing Tung, whose past credits also include Halo: Reach, says is a core part of Project Loki is player creativity. Each session starts with you and your teammates choosing a group of heroes you think will win you the match, and will need to adapt your strategies on the fly.

Tung says Theorycraft Games is a “small and very independent game studio,” but it has the backing of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which took part in the company’s $50 million series B fundraising round last year. In other words, there’s a lot of money riding on the bet that Theorycraft can create the next LoL or Apex Legends. Expect to hear more about the game in the weeks and months ahead. You can sign up to playtest Project Loki on Theorycraft's website. 

Tesla’s North American Charging Standard (NACS) is one step closer to becoming the de-facto electric vehicle charging system in the US. On Tuesday, SAE International, one of the automotive industry’s most important standards bodies, shared it is working to support the plug, a move that will make it easier for manufacturers to add NACS connectors to their vehicles and charging stations.

“Standardizing the NACS connector will provide certainty, expanded choice, reliability and convenience to manufacturers and suppliers and, most of all, increase access to charging for consumers,” the SAE said in a statement. According to the organization, the US Joint Office of Energy and Transportation helped bring together Tesla and the SAE. The association says it will create a standardized NACS connector on an “expedited timeframe,” all in hopes of improving the country’s charging infrastructure that much faster.

As The Verge points out, the announcement comes on the same day that ChargePoint said customers could begin ordering charging stations with NACS connectors. Starting later this year, the company will offer the port as an option on its home AC charging systems. More broadly, the last month has seen Ford, General Motors and Rivian all announce they plan to adopt NACS. In turn, that has pushed states like Texas to mandate government-funded EV charging stations feature Tesla’s connector. With the momentum behind NACS growing, holdouts like Electrify America may reconsider their stance on the connector.