If you play Overwatchon PC frequently, there's a good chance you've disabled settings like v-sync and triple buffering to reduce system input lag as much as possible. And if you still feel like you're missing shots, additional help is on the way. Starting today, NVIDIA's latency-reducing Reflex technology is available on Overwatch's PTR, allowing those with relatively recent NVIDIA GPUs to check out the feature before it makes its way to the game's official release.
Reflex works by limiting the number of frames your GPU queues up in select scenes, thereby reducing the work your CPU needs to do. With the feature enabled, NVIDIA claims you'll see as much as a 50 percent reduction in system latency, which should help make the game feel more responsive. As you can see from the graph below, the effect is most noticeable on older and more affordable GPUs like the GTX 1660 Super. However, even NVIDIA's latest flagship gets a bump, though whether you'll be able to perceive the difference between 26ms and 16ms in latency is a separate question.
NVIDIA
Provided you own a GTX 900 series GPU or later, you can try out Reflex in Overwatch by downloading the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver from NVIDIA, switching over to the PTR client and enabling the feature in the game's display settings.
Facebook has taken the wraps off a project called Learning from Videos. It uses artificial intelligence to understand and learn audio, textual, and visual representations in public user videos on the social network.
Learning from Videos has a number of aims, such as improving Facebook AI systems related to content recommendations and policy enforcement. The project is in its early stages, but it's already bearing fruit. Facebook says it has already harnessed the tech to enhance Instagram Reels recommendations, such as surfacing videos of people doing the same dance to the same music. The system is showing improved results in speech recognition errors as well, which could bolster auto-captioning features and make it easier to detect hate speech in videos.
Facebook says the project will help AI researchers avoid having to rely on labeled data and it's part of efforts to build systems that learn in a similar way to humans. As such, Learning from Videos will "enable entirely new experiences." The company didn't go into much detail about those except for a possible feature that would allow AI to find digital memories, including ones captured by augmented reality glasses. You could, for instance, ask such a system to show you "every time we sang to grandma," and it could surface those clips. Facebook, notably, is working on its own smart glasses.
The company says the project is looking at videos in hundreds of languages and from almost every country. This aspect of the project will make AI systems more accurate and allow them to "adapt to our fast moving world and recognize the nuances and visual cues across different cultures and regions."
Facebook says that it's keeping privacy in mind when it comes to Learning from Videos. "We’re building and maintaining a strong privacy foundation that uses automated solutions to enforce privacy at scale," it wrote in a blog post. "By embedding this work at the infrastructure level, we can consistently apply privacy requirements across our systems and support efforts like AI. This includes implementing technical safeguards throughout the data lifecycle."
Understanding what's happening in videos can be an immensely difficult task for AI systems. They can include hurdles like background noise that makes it difficult to understand speech and language switching. Yet less than a year after starting the Learning from Videos project, Facebook is taking what the system has learned and putting it to practical use in other areas.
If you play Overwatchon PC frequently, there's a good chance you've disabled settings like v-sync and triple buffering to reduce system input lag as much as possible. And if you still feel like you're missing shots, additional help is on the way. Starting today, NVIDIA's latency-reducing Reflex technology is available on Overwatch's PTR, allowing those with relatively recent NVIDIA GPUs to check out the feature before it makes its way to the game's official release.
Reflex works by limiting the number of frames your GPU queues up in select scenes, thereby reducing the work your CPU needs to do. With the feature enabled, NVIDIA claims you'll see as much as a 50 percent reduction in system latency. As you can see from the graph below, the effect is most noticeable on older and more affordable GPUs like the GTX 1660 Super. However, even NVIDIA's latest flagship gets a bump, though whether you'll be able to perceive the difference between 26ms and 16ms in latency is a separate question.
NVIDIA
Provided you own a GTX 900 series GPU or later, you can try out Reflex in Overwatch by downloading the latest GeForce Game Ready Driver from NVIDIA, switching over to the PTR client and enabling the feature in the game's display settings.
The Apple Watch SE came out last fall as the more affordable alternative to Apple's flagship Series 6, and it proved to be a pretty capable device at a solid price. Now Amazon knocked the price of the Apple Watch SE down to $259, which is the best deal we've seen since late last year. While not the all-time low of $230 that we saw during the holiday shopping season, it's still a good price for anyone that missed those sales a few months ago. You can grab a GPS model for $259 or a GPS + Cellular model for $329, the latter of which is also $20 off its normal price.
Apple designed the SE to be more affordable while still delivering the core Apple Watch experience. It tracks all-day activity, workouts and heart rate fluctuations, and it has the same nearly edge-to-edge screen that the Series 6 does. However, you don't get the always-on display on the SE because it's a more advanced feature saved for the higher-end Series 6. The higher-end smartwatch also has blood oxygen tracking and ECG measurements, two things that the SE does not have.
But aside from the differences in hardware, the SE runs similarly to the Series 6 because they both take full advantage of watchOS 7. The SE has features like fall detection, emergency SOS, noise monitoring and more, and you can use it with Apple Fitness+, too. We ended up giving it a score of 88 in part because it overlaps so much with the Series 6 in terms of standard capabilities. We also appreciate the SE's solid performance and comfortable design, too. If you must have the latest and greatest, the Series 6 is still your best bet. But if you're willing to sacrifice a few advanced features, you'll save a good chunk of change and get a similar experience by opting for the Apple Watch SE.
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If you want Apple's latest M1 processor technology (and already have a display and keyboard), there's no cheaper way to get it than the Mac mini M1. Now, it's possible to pick up the 512GB model with 8GB of RAM at a price that matches the best we've seen yet, $829 — or $70 off.
This is a great deal for a compact desktop PC that punches well above its weight, so to speak. The M1 chip delivers similar performance to high-end desktop processors, even in demanding multimedia applications like Final Cut Pro X and Photoshop. At the same time, the Mac mini M1 will take up hardly any space on your desktop and while it does have a fan (unlike the MacBook Air M1), it's still a very quiet machine. If you're planning to run some games or large apps, the 512GB option is a good choice.
However, both B&H and Amazon are also offering the Mac mini M1 for $649 with 256GB and 8GB of RAM, the second-lowest price we've seen. That $180 difference is a lot, so you could actually get more storage for less money by buying an external drive. The Mac Mini has two high-speed Thunderbolt/USB-C ports at the rear which could provide a couple of terabytes of storage and leave you with money left over. For either device, keep in mind that the 8GB of RAM might limit the software you can run (and it's not upgradeable), but the M1 processor gets far more out of less RAM than x86 Macs or PCs.
If you own a Mac, there’s a good chance you spent quite a bit of money to buy it. If for no other reason than that, you should take care of your computer. Not only will it work better over its life, but you’ll also be able to potentially sell it for more money if you ever decide to part with it. In this how-to, we’ll share some tips on how to take care of your Mac. It’s impossible to cover the topic of computer maintenance from every angle, so think of this guide as more of an introduction to some organizational features and apps you may not have known about.
How to clean your Mac’s screen and body
While there are a lot of products you can buy that are specially made to help you with cleaning your computer, I’ve found the simplest approach works best — and it’s the one Apple recommends. To start, all you’ll need is some water in a spray bottle and a clean microfiber cloth. You can use either regular or distilled water. The advantage of the latter is that it’s far less likely to leave any residue on your Mac, particularly on the display. You can buy distilled water at a grocery store or make it yourself with some simple cookware. Either way, it’s more affordable than dedicated cleaning solutions and more versatile. If you don’t already own any microfiber cloths, Amazon sells affordable 24-packs you can get for about $15.
Two other products I’ve found that can make the job easier are Whoosh screen cleaner and a Giottos Rocket Blower. I can’t say enough good things about the latter. It will save you from buying expensive and wasteful cans of compressed air. Lastly, if you want to disinfect your computer, Apple recently said it’s safe to use isopropyl alcohol and Clorox wipes.
As for the process of cleaning your Mac, the most important tip to remember is to start with a clean cloth (that’s part of the reason we recommend buying them in bulk). You’ll save yourself time and frustration this way. Begin by turning off your computer and unplugging it. If you went out and bought a Rocket Blower, use it now to remove any dust. If not, take a dry microfiber cloth and go over your computer. Take special care around the keys, particularly if you own a Mac with a butterfly keyboard.
At this point, you can wipe down your computer with a disinfecting wipe. Otherwise, dampen one side of your cleaning cloth with either water or Whoosh. Never spray any liquid directly on your computer. You’ll have more control this way and you’ll avoid getting any moisture into your Mac’s internals. I always clean the display first since the last thing I want to do is create more work for myself by transferring dirt from some other part of my computer to the screen. The last step is to buff and polish your computer with the dry side of the cloth. That’s it. Your Mac should be looking clean again.
How to organize your hard drive
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
One of the hardest parts of cleaning your Mac’s hard drive is knowing where to start. After all, most of us have apps on our computers we don’t even remember installing in the first place. Thankfully, macOS comes with a tool to help you with that exact issue.
Navigate to the “Storage” section of the “About This Mac” menu and click the “Manage…” option. Here you’ll find a tool that sorts your files into broad categories and offers recommendations on how to free up space on your hard drive. You can use those in combination with the handy “Show in finder” button at the bottom of the interface to quickly navigate your hard drive. No need to search for files manually.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
The section dedicated to applications is particularly helpful since you can see the last time you used a program, as well as if it’s no longer supported by the operating system or if it’s outdated thanks to a more recent release.
You don’t need me to tell you to uninstall programs you don’t use, but what you might not know is that there’s a better way to erase them than simply dragging them to the trash can. A free program called AppCleaner will help you track down any files and folders that would get left behind if you were just to delete an application.
After deleting any apps you don’t need, move to the documents section. The name is somewhat misleading here since you’ll find more than just text files and excel spreadsheets. Documents, in this case, turns out to be the tool’s catch-all term for a variety of files, including ones that take up a large amount of space and DMGs you may have forgotten to dismount. The other sections on the sidebar are self-explanatory. The only other thing I’ll mention is if you’ve been using an iPhone for a while, there’s a good chance you’ll have old iOS backups stored on your computer. You can safely delete those too.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
By this point, your hard drive should be in pretty good shape. If you want to take some additional steps to clean it, there are dedicated apps that can help. I like one called CleanMyMac X. At $51 per year, it’s on the expensive side, but will save you the time and trouble of doing everything I mentioned above (and then some) on your own. It also doubles as a malware removal tool.
Tips and tricks for keeping a neat Desktop and Finder
Igor Bonifacic
Let’s start with the menu bar. It may not technically be part of the desktop, but a tidy one can go a long way toward making everything else look less cluttered. My recommendation here is to download a $15 app called Bartender. At first glance, it’s a simple program allowing you to hide unwanted menu bar items behind a three dots icon. However, the strength of Bartender is that you get a lot of customization options. For example, you can set a trigger that will automatically move the battery status icon out from hiding when your computer isn’t connected to a power outlet.
While we’re on the subject of the menu bar, take a second to open your Mac’s System Preferences menu and go to the “Users & Groups” section. Now click on the “Login Items” tab at the top of the interface and take a look at all the apps that launch when you boot up your system. You can speed up your system by paring this list down to only the programs you use most often.
When it comes to the desktop itself, the best advice is less is more. Nothing will make your computer look like a cluttered mess more than a busy desktop. Folders and stacks can help, but, for most people, I suspect part of the problem is they use their desktop as a way to quickly and easily find files that are important to them.
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
If you’ve ever struggled to find a specific file or folder on your computer, try using your Mac’s tagging capabilities instead. Start by opening the Finder preferences menu(“command” + “,”) and click the “Tags” tab. You can use the default ones provided by macOS or make your own. Either way, drag the ones you think you’ll use most often to the favorites areas at the bottom of the preferences window. This will make it so that they’re easily accessible when you want to use them. To append a tag to a file or folder, click on it while holding the ctrl key and select the one you want from the dropdown menu. You can also tag a file while working on it within an app. Keep in mind you can apply multiple tags to a single file or folder. You can even apply them to applications.
What makes tags so useful in macOS is that they can appear in the sidebar of the Finder and are easily searchable either directly through the Finder or using Siri. As long as you have a system for organizing your files, even a simple one, you’ll find it easier to keep track of them. As one example, I like to apply an Engadget tag to any files related to my work. I’ll add an “Important” tag if it’s something that’s critical and I want to find quickly.
How to organize your windows and tabs
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget
There’s one last app I’d like to suggest in closing out this article. If you’ve used both macOS and Windows 10, you’ll know that Apple’s operating system doesn’t come with the best window management tools. You can click and hold on the full-screen icon to tile a window to either the left or right side of your screen, but that’s about it and the feature has always felt less precise than its Windows counterpart.
My suggestion is to download an app that replicates Windows 10’s snapping feature. You have several competing options that more or less offer the same functionality. My go-to is a $5 program called Magnet. If you want a free alternative, check out Rectangle. Another option is BetterSnapTool, which offers more functionality than Magnet but doesn’t have as clean of an interface. All three apps give you far more ways to configure your windows than what you get through the built-in tool in macOS. They also come with shortcut support, which means you can quickly set up your windows and get to work.
Google Meet's group video chats have had a tile layout on large screens since the start of the pandemic, but you've had to endure a far less practical (and less egalitarian) view if you wanted to participate on your phone. No more — Google is rolling out the grid view for mobile users on iOS, with Android "coming soon." Instead of focusing primarily on one caller at a time, Meet now gives equal treatment to several participants.
It's a relatively simple move, but it's also an important acknowledgment that video chats have changed as a result of social distancing and the shift to working from home. You're less likely to be watching a boardroom presentation and more likely to be holding running conversations with coworkers, family and friends. And with many companies making remote work a permanent option, the Google Meet changes could be helpful long after it's safe to see others in person.
With upcoming national elections in five European countries, Microsoft is making some of the more advanced features of its AccountGuard service available to additional groups and individuals at no additional cost. AccountGuard is a program Microsoft offers to people and organizations at higher risk of being targeted by hackers. Typically that has meant politicians, but near the start of the pandemic, the company made the tool available to healthcare workers and humanitarian organizations at no cost. In practice, the service provides notifications from Microsoft when the company detects an attack and guidance on how to stop it.
As part of today's expansion, Microsoft is making the service's enterprise-grade identity and access management features available to all AccountGuard members in '31' democracies at no additional cost. Some of those more advanced features include multi-factor authentication and single sign-on service. The company trialed a similar expansion ahead of the 2020 US presidential election, providing political campaigns and parties access to those features. Microsoft also plans to provide up to 25,000 YubiKeys to AccountGuard customers. Depending on the size of the organization, the company will have multiple free keys on offer.
The expansion is timely for a couple of reasons. With national elections coming up in the Netherlands, Finland, Germany, Estonia and the Czech Republic, Microsoft hopes to protect them from disinformation campaigns. It also was only last year that Russian state-sponsored hackers pulled off the SolarWinds attack. The US government is still sorting through all the damage left by the hack, and even Microsoft wasn't left unscathed.
Since ditching Intel's chips for its own, Apple's M1 Macs are getting optimizedapps all the time that tend to perform better than those put through its Rosetta 2 emulator. Today marks another major native release as Photoshop has officially come out of beta packing quicker speeds for many tasks. Adobe says the changes should be immediately noticeable from the time you launch the native app, with the splash screen vanishing in an instant. Overall, the new Mac app can run tasks up to 1.5x faster than previous generation systems. In general, that should apply when opening and saving files, running filters and compute-heavy operations like "content-aware fill" and "select subject."
However, some of Photoshop's latest features have yet to make the jump as Adobe wanted to get the native app out as quickly as possible. So, you'll have to wait for things like "invite to edit cloud documents" and "preset syncing" — or you can switch back to Rosetta 2 emulation if you can make do without them. Adobe has been quick to embrace Apple's latest Macs having previously released its Premiere Pro and Lightroom apps for the new range.
Along with the new M1 app, Adobe is also releasing an update for Photoshop on iPad that packs two new features. They include cloud documents version history, which lets you browse and revert back to older files that were auto-saved in the past 60 days, and the ability to download cloud documents locally so you can work on files offline. The same feature also lets you free up space on your iPad by making a document online only.
In addition, Adobe is adding its "super resolution" feature to the Camera Raw plugin in Photoshop. By tapping into your graphics card, the machine learning-powered software lets you scale up an image without losing out on quality. Super resolution will also be available on Lightroom and Lightroom Classic soon. Adobe has been sprinkling AI-enhanced features throughout Photoshop including a tool that lets you spruce up landscape images, neural filters that mimic art styles and a sky replacement option.
HTC is today launching its third-generation Vive Tracker, which is significantly smaller in size and weight than its immediate predecessor. The Vive Tracker 3.0 is around 33 percent smaller than the 2018 model, and 15 percent lighter, with a footprint roughly 10 centimeters, or four inches, smaller. These quality-of-life size reductions mean that the device is much easier to strap to your body, or an accessory, something very onerous on the bulky older models. Oh, and it now uses USB-C.
Daniel Cooper
Despite the smaller body, the company says that the device will last up to 75 percent longer on a single charge, pushing the quoted battery life close to seven hours. HTC has made the point that the smaller trackers should make it easier to strap them to wrists and ankles for full-body tracking in VR. Compared to testing the bigger version in Rezzil Player 21 a few weeks back, the improvement is significant. But HTC has said that there is no compromise in the tracking precision compared to its older siblings.
Daniel Cooper
There should be no complaints about backwards compatibility between the new trackers and the older hardware. The company says that it’ll easily integrate with SteamVR 1.0 and 2.0, and remains compatible with any accessories you already own that use the pogo pin connectors. The HTC Vive Tracker 3.0 is available from today in both the US and Europe, priced at $129 / €139, both from Vive’s own site, as well as Amazon and other participating retailers.
HTC
At the same time, HTC is also launching the new Vive Facial tracker, which “seamlessly tracks 38 facial movements across the lips, jaw, teeth, tongue, chin and cheeks.” The idea being to enable people in VR to project their own avatar with an accurate version of their own face, tracked in real time. The system uses an IR illuminator connected to two cameras that monitor (presumably similar to how FaceID works) the motion of your mouth.
The company says that it is both a new tool for gamers and developers, but also a way to “build momentum” for future methods of storytelling. It could also come in handy for enterprise users who need to monitor facial feedback during product testing, as well as in medical situations. Plus, it may offer cheap and cheerful motion-capture for filmmakers who can’t afford to shell out for pricier, more comprehensive methods. And this, too is available to buy from today, from HTC’s website.
