With so many different ways to build a computer, one of the trickiest aspects of PC gaming is knowing whether a game you’re about to install will play well on your machine. Microsoft is testing a feature that could make that easier. As spotted by The Verge, the Xbox app on Windows now includes a label that will tell you if a game will “play great” on your PC.
Tom Warren/The Verge
Since there are some titles where the app says “performance check not available yet,” it doesn’t appear Microsoft is comparing the listed system requirements against the components in your PC. Instead, it would seem the company is building a database where it tests a game against various different machines. If you want to test the labels, you can do so by downloading the Xbox Insider app and opting into the Windows gaming preview.
If the system works well, it could solve a common pain point for PC gamers. In recent years, we’ve seen some developers share more granular system requirements for their games, telling you not just the minimum and recommended spec but also hardware that will deliver the best experience at Full HD, QHD and 4K respectively. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been anything close to standardization across the industry, and that’s even before you consider the fact some developers list overly optimistic requirements for their games.
Toshiba has launched a new flagship smart TV with built-in Fire TV just in time for the holidays. The LED 4K UHD model has hands-free Alexa capabilities similar to Amazon's own Omni TVs, so you can issue voice commands from across the room. Toshiba also claims that it's the first Fire TV with local dimming, which improves the display's contrast ratio by dimming dark areas of the screen when needed.
Model M550KU has a bezel-less design, with a 4K screen that has a 120Hz refresh rate. It supports Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision, and it has a live view-in-view feature that can show feed from compatible smart doorbells or security cameras. To be able to hear and respond to voice commands, Toshiba embedded microphones into the device, allowing you to launch apps, play music and control smart home devices without the need for a remote control.
When the Omni lineup was announced, there were reports that Toshiba was designing TVs with a microphone array for far-field Alexa and was planning to release them next year. It's unclear if this model was one of those, but you don't have to wait until 2022 to be able to get it. The new model will be available starting early this month in three sizes on Best Buy and Amazon. You can get the 55-inch version for $800, the 65-inch for $1,000 and the 75-inch for $1,200.
The AirPods Pro remain the best sounding of Apple's earbuds and a good gift idea for the iPhone user in your life. If you missed them during the Black Friday sale rush, you have another opportunity to grab them on a good deal. Amazon has the earbuds for $170, or roughly $80 off their normal price. That's not the lowest we've seen them — they hit $159 on Black Friday proper — but it is one of the better prices of the season. Also, you can still get these before the holidays because, at the time of publishing this, Amazon estimates delivery by December 18.
These buds earned a score of 87 from us for their better fitting design, good audio quality and strong active noise cancellation. Their interchangeable ear tips give you more control over how they fit in your ears and they're IPX4-rated, so they'll survive even your sweatiest workouts. You'll be able to block out a significant amount of environmental noise with ANC enabled, and Transparency mode lets you easily jump in an out of conversations that you need to hear.
But the advantage that the Pros have over other earbuds, even some of our favorites like Sony's WF-1000XM4, is the H1 chip inside that allow them to pair with iOS devices easily as well as switch between them depending on what you're doing. That means you can go from taking a call on your iPhone to listening to music on your MacBook without any hiccups. The chip also enables features like hands-free Siri access, too.
While the earbuds themselves haven't really changed since launch, the "new" AirPods Pro have a MagSafe case. They were capable of wireless charging before, but now you can use them with any magnetic chargers you may have that also work with the latest iPhones. Overall, the Pros remain a solid choice if you or someone you love needs a convenient pair of all-purpose wireless earbuds that have extra perks for iPhone users.
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The wait is finally over. After a year-long delay, Xbox’s iconic hero, Master Chief, is back. With Halo Infinite, there are new toys and fight mechanics, while many players will also benefit from major cosmetic upgrades if they’re playing on the newest Microsoft consoles.
Senior Editor Jessica Conditt has been playing through the single-player campaign mode — while we wait for the rest of the game to appear – and it still seems very much like a Halo experience, for better and worse. Read her full impressions right here.
Epic has officially released a trailer that outlines what to expect both in Chapter 3 and its first season, "Flipped." The new island is the star, with the flip from the Chapter 2 finale leading to a complete landscape overhaul that includes chaotic weather. However, the gameplay changes are arguably more important — you'll have to rethink your tactics.
Sliding and swinging mechanics should help characters move (and dodge) faster than before, while camps help your squad heal and store items that persist between matches. You can also earn XP beyond battle royale and hold on to a Victory Crown if you keep winning — possibly marking you out as a major threat during battles.
New characters? Spider-Man should be well suited to the new swinging mechanic, but you can also play as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's Fortnite character, The Foundation, or Gears of War's Marcus and Kait.
eBay has confirmed it suspended a "small number" of users by mistake on December 3rd. The company didn't provide a cause or reveal the extent of the problem, but said it had fixed the slip-up and notified those affected.
There may have been a significant number of victims. Reddit users devoted a large thread to the bans, noting there weren't any potential red flags for at least some of the accounts. People were suspended even if they had excellent buyer and seller histories or hadn't used eBay for years.
IKEA has sold a variety of wireless chargers since 2015, but never one you could use without plugging into a wall outlet. It looks like that’s about to change, with images of a new portable Nordmärke Qi charger making their way online courtesy of a few hawk-eyed Reddit users. We also have some details on the device thanks to German media outlet mobiFlip, which obtained them from a reader who bought one at a store in Cologne. No word yet on whether the charger will appear elsewhere, but with these specs, you’re probably not missing out on much.
The crypto exchange BitMart has lost the equivalent of $196 million (originally estimated at $150 million) to a hack. The intruder breached Ethereum and Binance wallets with a flood of transfers starting around 2:30 PM ET on December 4th, followed by an exodus of tokens two hours later that included Shiba and USDC.
It's not clear who was responsible, and the stolen funds have been sent to an Ethereum mixing service that could make it difficult to trace.
While this isn't the biggest digital heist (the Poly attacker back in August grabbed $610 million), Coindesk notes this is one of the larger centralized exchange hacks to date.
The company doesn't want to let app makers mention payment alternatives.
Apple is asking for a judicial review of a Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service warning from August that allows developers to mention alternatives to the App Store's in-app payment system. FAS gave Apple until September 30th to alter its policies, but the company declined to change its rules despite the threat of a fine.
The opposition parallels Apple's legal battles in the US. The judge in Epic's lawsuit against Apple ordered the tech firm to let App Store developers point to other payment systems, but Apple appealed the injunction in hopes of a delay. The court denied the request, and Apple will have until December 9th to let app makers point to other options. The company will make exceptions to its policy for some media apps in 2022.
As it promised, Google Photos is starting to roll out the Locked Folder feature to Samsung and other non-Pixel phones, Sammobile has reported. The idea is that it keeps your most private photos away from your primary image set and offline, as well. It has only been available on the Pixel 3 or later devices until now, but is now rolling out to older Pixel models too, The Verge noted.
Locked Folder immediately got tagged as the "nude storage folder" by pundits when it first launched at Google IO 2021 in May. Whether you have those or other sensitive photos, it stores them in a passcode or biometric-secured spot so kids, friends or others won't accidentally stumble across them.
To use the feature, simply launch Google Photos, go to "Library" then the "Utilities" section at the top. Click on that and the feature should appear in a card, provided you have the update from around November 29th.
It worked just fine for me on Samsung Galaxy S10 and Galaxy Fold3 devices, and Android Central reported that it has also appeared on Oppo and OnePlus devices. If you decide to use it, bear in mind that your photos won't be backed up to the cloud, so they'll disappear if you delete Google Photos or wipe/lose your smartphone. Google has more information about the feature here.
Engineered Arts, the company behind the human-like Mesmer robot series, has unveiled a new creation that may weird you out even more. "Ameca" is a new humanoid robot that doesn't have realistic hair and skin like Mesmer, but can instead show more human-like, natural-looking expressions than others we've seen, as The Verge has reported.
Ameca at first displays confusion as it appears to wake up, then shows mild astonishment when it moves its hands (the hand gestures looks fairly real, too). It then appears surprised to see the viewer or camera, and finishes the video with a smile and welcoming hand gesture.
The improvements in facial animation look to be the result of more fluid movements than we've seen before. By contrast, the Mesmer "Fred" robot had decent head movements, but he "looks like he just had a shot of Novocain in his entire lower face" when he speaks, I wrote back in 2018.
It appears to have a fully articulated head, face, neck, shoulders, arms and hands, but Engineered Arts notes that none of its robots can walk — though the company is studying that capability. It's not clear how Ameca's facial expressions were animated, but some form of motion capture seems a good bet. The company said that Ameca is a "platform for developing AI," but is letting others develop the necessary machine learning algorithms.
Engineered Arts has previously said that it uses "powerful, silent, high-torque" motors to drive Mesmer's body and head movements, with everything designed from scratch to work together perfectly. It also uses sensors like cameras, depth sensors, LiDAR and microphones. To control movements, it has developed browser-based software that works much 3D apps used for VFX or gaming animation.
There's no word on pricing or availability for Ameca or Mesmer, though the company's more basic RoboThespian models reportedly cost $79,000 and up in 2018. In any case, we'll soon get a close-up look at Ameca, as Engineered Arts plans to show it off at CES 2022 in Las Vegas.
Apple is still fighting Russia over alleged App Store abuse. Both 9to5Mac and RT report Apple is asking for a judicial review of a Federal Antimonopoly Service warning from August that allows developers to mention alternatives to the App Store's in-app payment system. FAS gave Apple until September 30th to alter its policies, but the company declined to change its rules despite the threat of a fine.
The opposition parallels Apple's legal battles in the US. The judge in Epic's lawsuit against Apple ordered the tech firm to let App Store developers point to other payment systems, but Apple appealed the injunction in hopes of a delay. The court denied Apple's request, and the company will have until December 9th to let app makers point to other options. Apple will make exceptions to its policy for some media apps in 2022.
Pushbacks like those in the US and Russia aren't surprising. Apple still makes most of its money through hardware sales, but its services business is growing. Easier third-party alternatives could theoretically hurt App Store revenues, not to mention increase the chances of rogue apps pointing users to malicious sites. The iPhone maker might not have much choice, however. Regulators are concerned Apple's approach stifles choice and competition, and they're unlikely to let the matter slide.
Clearview AI is about to get formal acknowledgment for its controversial facial recognition technology. Politicoreports Clearview has received a US Patent and Trademark Office "notice of allowance" indicating officials will approve a filing for its system, which scans faces across public internet data to find people from government lists and security camera footage. The company just has to pay administrative fees to secure the patent.
In a Politico interview, Clearview founder Hoan Ton-That claimed this was the first facial recognition patent involving "large-scale internet data." The firm sells its tool to government clients (including law enforcement) hoping to accelerate searches.
As you might imagine, there's a concern the USPTO is effectively blessing Clearview's technology and giving the company a chance to grow despite widespread objections to its technology's very existence. Critics are concerned Clearview is building image databases without targets' knowledge or permission, and multiple governments (including Australia and the UK) believe the facial recognition violates data laws. The tech could theoretically be used to stifle political dissent or, in private use, to stalk other people. That's not including worries about possible gender and race biases for facial recognition as a whole.
Ton-That maintained Clearview has no plans to sell to anyone besides government clients, and that it was "important" to have unbiased systems. However, the patent left the door open to non-government purposes, like learning more about a dating partner or business client. Clearview is aware of the problematic path its technology might take, even if it doesn't intend to head in that direction.
This week, in addition to covering all the Cyber Week deals we could find, we also reviewed some unique gadgets. Steve Dent and a licensed drone pilot toured the French countryside with the help of the DJI Mavic 3 drone, while Terrence O’Brien played with the Animoog Z app, a sequel ten years in the making. Also, Cherlynn Low played around with Android 12 to check out its new Material You design.
Steve Dent spent some time with the DJI Mavic 3 and a licensed drone pilot in the French countryside to see what the new device is capable of. He reports that not only is the Mavic 3 the easiest DJI drone to fly, but the large 4/3 sensor and dual camera system produce incredible footage – and the 46 minutes of range is double the time that the previous model could capture. He tested the standard model in the $3,000 Fly More combo package, which includes three batteries, a charging hub, one set of ND filters and a carrying bag. The Mavic 3 is also available in a Cine mode with a built-in 1TB SSD and Apple ProRes 422 HQ video support.
While the Mavic 3 was easier to maneuver thanks to its improved obstacle avoidance, it was also easy to fold the 899-gram drone into a more compact size for storage and travel. Steve says the camera and video specs are impressive: the primary camera was built in collaboration with Hasselblad and has a 24mm f/2.8-f/11 lens with a color profile for accurate hues. The video camera can shoot 5.1K at 50fps or 4K at 60fps; Steve says the larger sensor provides better low light performance, more detail and great dynamic range. However, there are some downsides – namely the price, but also that the additional features that DJI promised (like ActiveTrack5 and QuickShots) aren't available now but will be released in January. Overall, Steve says the Mavic 3 delivers, but is best for professions and prosumers.
Cherlynn Low knows that the many versions of Android make a review of the core features a bit difficult, but the upgrades on the operating system’s most recent release make for a refreshing experience and provide more transparency over data and privacy. That’s largely thanks to the new Material You design that has decluttered the UI and enlarged buttons and sliders, among other things. Cherlynn particularly liked the Privacy Dashboard that informs users when their camera and mic are activated, along with which apps require them. Android 12 also has new indicators for when the camera or mic are actively being used.
Cherlynn did note some aspects that disappointed her, namely the default way to summon the Google Assistant, and the confusing charts and graphs in the battery and privacy dashboards. She was also excited to try the audio-coupled haptic feedback, but wasn’t able to find any apps that supported it. Overall, she said that the visual updates in Material You and increased privacy tools made the system feel drastically different — in a good way.
Terrence O’Brien was looking forward to testing out Animoog Z, the follow up to Moog’s original software instrument which used wavetable synthesis. This sequel to the app has largely the same core Anisotropic Synth Engine, consisting of dozens of waveforms that you can choose from, ranging from samples of analog saw waves to more digital sounds. However, the new release adds a third dimension to the X/Y axis of the original — a Z axis that notes can move along.
Terrence says this gives the new app a bit more depth and room to evolve. He found that certain presets took advantage of the additional modulation path to make more complex and unique sounds. There’s also a new effects section with a looper, delay, filter and an arpeggiator, plus MPE support. Additionally, Terrence says the redesigned look that the new app has makes it feel more modern and easier to navigate. After testing, he declared the Animoog Z a worthy successor to the groundbreaking original. A limited version is available as a free download, with the full featured version going for a flat $10.
Scientific research and technological advancement have gone hand-in-hand since the invention of the wheel. Without research, we lack the knowledge base to advance the state of technology and, without technological advancement we lack the functional base for further scientific exploration. In their new book, The Genesis of Technoscientific Revolutions, Harvard University Professor of Technology and Public Policy, Venkatesh Narayanamurti, and Sandia National Laboratories Senior Scientist, Jeffrey Y. Tsao, explore the symbiotic relationship between these two concepts and how their interaction might be modulated to better serve the rapidly accelerating pace of 21st century technoscientific discovery.
The Network Is Hierarchical: The Nesting of Questions and Answers
The way in which scientific and technological knowledge are hierarchical stems from the nesting discussed in the last chapter, both of scientific facts and explanations and of technological functions and the forms that fulfill them.
Harvard University Press
In science, at the top of the hierarchy are facts — raw patterns in observed phenomena. These patterns can be thought of as questions: Why does a particular pattern occur? Why when one releases a ball does the ball fall and fall faster the farther it has fallen? Explanations of those raw patterns come a level below in the hierarchy, and can be thought of as answers to those questions: Galileo’s sixteenth-century explanation of the observed distance-versus-time pattern was that the velocities of falling balls increase linearly with time. But this answer, or explanation, becomes itself another question: Why do the velocities of falling balls increase linearly with time? This question begs a deeper explanation, a deeper answer: Newton’s explanation was that gravity is a force, that uniform forces cause uniform acceleration, and that uniform acceleration causes linear increases in velocity. Scientific understanding is always incomplete, of course, so there is always a point at which we have no deeper explanation. This in no way detracts from the power of the explanations that do exist: science seeks proximate whys but does not insist on ultimate whys. The general theory of relativity explains Newton’s laws of gravity, even if its own origin is yet to be explained.
In technology, at the top of the hierarchy are human-desired functions. These functions present problems that are solved by forms below them in the hierarchy. Forms fulfill functions, but those forms present new problems that must be solved at successively deeper levels. Shifting from the problem-solution nomenclature to the equivalent question-answer nomenclature, we can say that the iPhone represented a technological question: How do we create an Internet-capable cellular phone with a software-programmable interactive display? A partial answer came in the form of multi touch capacitive surfaces, opening up a significant design space for user interaction when multiple fingers are used simultaneously. But the opaqueness of existing multitouch surfaces itself became a question: How do we make multi touch surfaces transparent so that the display is visible? The multi touch transparent surface display provided an answer.
In other words, science and technology are both organized into hierarchies of question-and-answer pairs, with any question or answer having two “faces.” One face, pointing downward in the hierarchy, represents a question to an answer just below it in the hierarchy. The other face, pointing upward in the hierarchy, represents an answer to a question just above it in the hierarchy. We emphasize that our depiction of questions as “above” answers and answers as “below” questions is arbitrary — it does not signify relative importance or value but is simply intended to be consistent with common usage. In science, an explanation is deeper and more “foundational” than the fact it explains, especially if it generalizes to explanations of many other facts. Special relativity is, in that sense, deeper than the constancy of c because it answers the question of why c is constant; it also answers the question of how much energy is released during nuclear fission and fusion. In technology, forms are deeper and more “foundational” than the functions they fulfill, especially if they have been adapted to fulfill many other functions. The multi touch transparent surface display is more foundational than the iPhone because it not only helps answer the question of how to create the iPhone, but also helps answer the question of how to create human-interactive displays in general. Rubber is more foundational than a bicycle tire because it not only helps answer the question of how to create a bicycle tire, but also helps answer the question of how to create a myriad of other kinds of tires.
The Network Is Modular: Facilitating Exploitation and Exploration
Closely related scientific questions and answers are organized into what we might call scientific domains, which we will refer to as scientific knowledge modules. Closely interacting technological problems and solutions are organized into engineered components, which we will refer to as technological knowledge modules.
Harvard University Press
Closely related scientific questions are often answerable within a scientific knowledge domain, or scientific knowledge module, drawing on multiple subdomains nested within the larger domain. A question related to some electron transport phenomenon in a particular semiconductor structure lies in the broad domain of semiconductor science but the answer might require an integrated understanding of both the subdomain of electron transport physics as well as the subdomain of the materials science of the synthesized structure. The subquestion associated with electron transport physics might require an integrated understanding of the subdomain of electrons in various kinds of structures (bulk materials, heterojunctions, nanostructures, coupled nanostructures) and of the sub-subdomains of interactions of electrons with phonons in those structures. The subquestion associated with the materials science of the synthesized structure might require an understanding of the sub-subdomains of substrates and epitaxy, thin films, or post materials synthesis fabrication. In other words, we can think of scientific knowledge domains as a modular hierarchy, and think of its subdomains as submodules and sub-submodules.
Closely related technological problems, likewise, are often solved by key technological components, or technological knowledge modules, perhaps integrating multiple subcomponents nested within the larger components. An iPhone is a component itself composed of many subcomponents, and each subcomponent is similarly subdivided. We can think of the “problem” of the iPhone as a component that is “solved” by its subcomponents — an enclosure, a display, a printed circuit board, a camera, and input / output ports. We can think of the “problem” of a printed circuit board as a subcomponent that is “solved” by sub-components that include low-power integrated circuit chips. Conversely, an iPhone is also a component that is itself nested in a hierarchy of use functions. An iPhone might be used as a solution to the problem of “running” a text-messaging app; a text-messaging app might be used as a solution to the problem of sending a mass text message to a friend group; the mass text message might be used as a solution to the problem of organizing the friend group into a protest in Times Square; and the protest in Times Square might be part of a solution to the problem of organizing a wider social movement for some human-desired social cause.
One might ask: Why is scientific and technological knowledge modular? They are modular because they are complex adaptive systems — systems sustained by and adapted to their environment by complex internal changes — and virtually all complex adaptive systems are modular (Simon, 1962). Complex adaptive systems both exploit their environments and explore their environments to improve that exploitation. Modularity enables efficiency, both in the exploitation of existing knowledge about the environment and exploration of that environment to create new knowledge.
