Ryan Whitwam
Recent posts
Got plans this weekend? If you intend to spend time playing the Diablo IV open beta, you might want to come up with a backup. Blizzard says you can expect "unprecedented" queue times thanks to all the other gamers who want to experience the next chapter in the Diablo universe.
This will be the second taste of the...
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When you delete something, you would naturally expect it to stay deleted. With the "acropalypse" bug, all bets are off. Security researchers discovered last week that Google's Pixel phones would retain data from cropped screenshots, allowing the cropped sections to be recovered. Now, it sounds like there's an almost...
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Twitter has made a lot of changes under Elon Musk, many of which have been unpopular with its users. The latest one continues the trend. Starting today, non-paying users can no longer use SMS two-factor authentication. There are other ways to secure your free account, but forcing users to turn off vital security...
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Most of the flagship phones launching in 2023 will run a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8-series chip, but some more affordable devices may step down to a 7-series. That doesn't mean this year's budget flagships will be lacking in power, however. Qualcomm has just announced the Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2, the most powerful 7-series...
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Microsoft is looking increasingly desperate to lock down Activision Blizzard in the face of increasing regulatory scrutiny. Microsoft is on its best behavior, licensing its game properties like there's no tomorrow, and that's a good thing for gamers. After inking long-term content deals with Nintendo and NVIDIA...
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The full moon can be an awe-inspiring sight, but capturing that vibe accurately isn't easy. Snapping a picture of the moon with your average smartphone will return a little white blob, but for the last few years, "Space Zoom" on select Samsung phones has provided what appear to be higher-quality images of Earth's...
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Sony has spent the last few years porting some of its carefully guarded exclusive games to PC. We've seen Spider-Man, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted, and more. Up next is The Last of Us, Part 1, which will probably be Sony's biggest release yet given the popularity of the HBO series. Sony and developer Naughty Dog have...
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Google has announced details for the 2023 I/O conference in its usual roundabout way: with a puzzle. Google updated its I/O website with the new puzzle on Tuesday, and mere hours later, it was solved. Google then revealed the May 10th starting date. While many events are loosening their pandemic-era restrictions...
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People buy expensive video cards to make their computers faster, but the opposite is happening for some owners of NVIDIA GPUs, that's to an apparent driver bug. Affected individuals report strangely high CPU usage at various times, causing higher temperatures and sluggish performance. The issue seems to trace back to...
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Amazon-owned Ring is one of the largest providers of smart home cameras and security products, but any users who were trying to get by with the free service tier might be looking to jump ship soon. According to notices sent out by Ring, the company's cameras and security system will lose several key features in the...
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Microsoft went wild with Windows 10 upgrades, offering everyone and anyone a free path to get on Microsoft's latest OS. There was speculation that Microsoft would never release another distinct version of Windows, but after five years, we got Windows 11. This time, Microsoft isn't letting just any PC upgrade to the...
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Terrestrial connectivity is so 2022. In 2023, it seems like every smartphone OEM is looking skyward for the next big thing, hedging their bets that consumers will want satellite communication in their next cell phone. Qualcomm recently unveiled its Snapdragon Satellite system, and now it has announced a raft of device...
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Today's mobile networks are more widely available than ever before, offering high-speed data in some areas that don't even have wired broadband. But terrestrial connectivity might not be enough—satellite communication may be the next big thing with Apple, Google, SpaceX, and T-Mobile all working to help your phone...
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Last year, Rovio re-released the original Angry Birds as a homage to the early days of smartphone gaming. Now, it's un-releasing the game, and the reason may surprise you. Rovio has essentially admitted that the classic Angry Birds is so good that it hurts the company's newer and more profitable titles.
Rovio...
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For most Steam Deck owners, Valve's hit gaming handheld is a secondary machine. If you've got games installed on a PC, too, there's now an easy way to get them on the Steam Deck without burning through more internet bandwidth. In the newest Steam Deck beta software, you can copy game files directly from your PC to the...
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Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy smartphones earlier this month, and they're officially on sale today. They've got a plethora of new goodies, like a 200MP camera and an overclocked Snapdragon chip. Samsung has revealed yet another feature: Message Guard. This feature can detect and block zero-click malware messages...
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OnePlus Buds Pro 2 - Priced at $179 The latest OnePlus Buds Pro 2 earbuds have great sound and a comfy design that many folks will enjoy. Attractive, comfortable design Supports Google Fast Pair and Spatial Audio Good audio quality No Google Assistant integration Some features only work on OnePlus phones With a headphone jack increasingly...
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Googlers are up in arms about the company's recent unveiling of Bard, its answer to the new threat posed by ChatGPT. Google's announcement last week was marred by a glaring and preventable error, which has sent the stock spiraling downward and reinforced a perception that Google stumbles from one crisis to the next...
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We've only just gotten the first phones with Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, including the new OnePlus 11, and already an alleged benchmark of its successor has leaked. The supposed Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 benchmark shows the ARM processor besting everything under the sun, even Apple's class-leading A16...
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OnePlus 11 5G - Starting at $699 The OnePlus 11 5G offers Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 performance for a reasonable price. Sharp, bright display with 120Hz refresh Fast 80W charging and included plug Excellent performance with SD 8 Gen 2 Alert slider is back Sharp, bright display with 120Hz refresh ×Fast 80W charging and included plug ×Excellent...
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Apple was slow to get into the smart speaker market, but it did so in a traditional Apple fashion in 2018 with the release of the HomePod. This $350 speaker never sold very well, and the company canned it in 2021, leaving just the HomePod Mini in its smart speaker lineup. Last month, it unexpectedly announced a return...
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You're going to see a lot of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 in 2023. This chip will be at the heart of most flagship Android devices, delivering the latest wireless connectivity and the highest performance short of Apple's custom silicon. However, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside the just-announced Galaxy S23 family is something...
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