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NASA's Flying SOFIA Telescope Observatory Damaged by Storm
NASA's Flying SOFIA Telescope Observatory Damaged by Storm
NASA's telescope-on-an-airplane is down for maintenance. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, aka SOFIA, is a modified Boeing 747SP with a telescope on board. It was visiting New Zealand to gather data on the skies of the Southern Hemisphere when a "severe weather event" damaged the plane.
NASA said in a statement this week that "high winds caused the stairs outside the aircraft to shift, causing light damage to the front of the aircraft, as well as the stairs themselves." There were no injuries. The plane will require new stairs. According to the SOFIA team, repairs will take at least three weeks, which will put the kibosh on any more science observation flights in New Zealand.
Here's SOFIA parked at Christchurch International Airport in New Zealand.
NASA/SOFIA/G. Perryman
Arriving in New Zealand in June, SOFIA had already "observed and studied a wide range of celestial objects and phenomena, like cosmic magnetic fields, structure of the Milky Way, and the origin of cosmic rays."
The unique telescope system was famously involved with NASA finding definitive evidence of water on the moon. The plane flies high enough to get above pesky water vapor in Earth's atmosphere that can muddy telescope observations.
Once repaired, SOFIA will head back home to California. The loss of work time is unfortunate since the observatory is nearing the end of its mission. NASA announced in April that SOFIA would end operations no later than Sept. 30, citing operating costs versus productivity as a factor.
Prior to NASA, the SOFIA airplane was a passenger jet. It completed its first flight after receiving its science modifications in 2007, but wasn't declared fully operational until 2014. The observatory is jointly operated by NASA and the German Aerospace Center.
SOFIA is expected to take some more science flights after being repaired, a fitting way to see it into retirement.
Intel s thunderbolt pushes into mainstream as faster as intel s thunderbolt pushes into mainstream as a verb intel s thunderbolt pushes into mainstream asx intel s thunderbolt pushes into mainstream assisted intel s thunderbolt pushes into mainstream fiber intel s thunderbolt pushes into sun intel s thunderbolt pushes aside intel s thunderbolt pushes definition intel s thunderbolt pushes with the head intel support
Intel's Thunderbolt pushes into mainstream as faster alternative to USB
Intel's Thunderbolt pushes into mainstream as faster alternative to USB
Thunderbolt, Intel's super-speedy connection technology, isn't widely used. But that may change in the coming year, as more computer makers incorporate the USB competitor into their new models.
Intel has hoped Thunderbolt, which debuted in 2011 on Apple's 2011 MacBook Pro, would become commonplace for computer users. A year later, the chipmaker forecast that "most PCs" would have Thunderbolt by 2015 to 2017. Despite the hype, only premium PCs carry the fast connection.
To get a boost in adoption, Intel has built Thunderbolt into its newest Core processors, code-named Tiger Lake, which means laptop makers get Thunderbolt without having to pay extra for separate controller chips. Because Intel chips are so widely used, the company says Thunderbolt will now have its moment to shine.
"I would expect by 2022 Thunderbolt will be in more than 50% of the PCs sold," said Jason Ziller, who runs Intel's connectivity products, adding that more than half of laptops that ship in the next year will "definitely" carry the technology. Ziller has led Thunderbolt work since before it debuted in Apple's 2011 MacBook Pro laptops almost exactly 10 years ago.
PC ports don't capture the imagination the way fast processors or smartphone cameras do. But they're a crucial part of most people's computing experience. Thunderbolt ports provide fast and versatile connections to external storage devices, monitors, network adapters and other peripherals. They can replace ports for HDMI, DisplayPort, Ethernet and power. The new Thunderbolt 4 lets multiport docks and hubs offer three Thunderbolt ports instead of just one.
For most of us, USB devices fit the bill just as well at a lower price. For example, a 1TB OWC Envoy Pro Elektron, a USB-C SSD, costs $199 compared to $319 for the Thunderbolt-based Envoy Pro FX, which transfers data at nearly triple the speed. Serious users, however, need top performance and reliability, which USB simply can't handle. And Thunderbolt's utility is more important than ever as laptop makers deliver slimmer computers with fewer ports.
"Thunderbolt speed and capabilities are amazing," said Jeff Griffiths, a programmer and electronic musician who uses a CalDigit Thunderbolt dock to connect high-end audio hardware and other peripherals. The Thunderbolt dock lets him switch his array of gear from one of the two computers he uses by simply moving a single cable.
Why Thunderbolt is spreading
Thunderbolt's precursor, code-named Light Peak, debuted in a 2009 demonstration and used fiber-optic cables to transmit data as light. When Thunderbolt arrived as a usable product in 2011, Intel switched to conventional copper wires carrying electrical signals.
Years of chip delays crimped Intel's Thunderbolt ambitions, but the connectivity technology is a standard feature in newer chip designs. Thunderbolt has the potential to spread more widely in 2022, when the Alder Lake chip generation, Tiger Lake's successor, is built into tower PCs that today don't use Thunderbolt-equipped processors. Thunderbolt is part of Intel's "Evo" brand to promote the higher-end laptops Intel deems powerful and responsive with good battery life. The combination of the two factors is helping Thunderbolt grow in a world where USB dominates.
Thunderbolt once was vastly faster than USB at transferring data, but USB is gradually catching up. The new USB 4 version, although a rarity in products so far, can match Thunderbolt's 40 gigabits per second. Thunderbolt should get faster in future incarnations, which could give it an edge again in terms of raw speed as well as reliability and other abilities.
Lenovo, a major PC maker, would like to see Thunderbolt spread beyond the Intel world. It's currently a relative rarity on AMD-based computers, although Apple supports Thunderbolt in Macs using its new M1 processors. (Intel released Thunderbolt standards in 2017 so others can implement it.)
Thunderbolt versus USB
USB is used everywhere from cars to airport charging stations. Newer USB-C connectors and the USB Power Delivery standard have made the technology robust enough to power big-battery devices, like laptops, or for connecting high-speed devices, like external drives. Intel's Thunderbolt ambition isn't to match USB's ubiquity.
Instead, Thunderbolt has become a USB sibling. Thunderbolt benefited by adopting the USB-C connector, which means PC makers can support Thunderbolt without sacrificing precious port real estate.
Thunderbolt also benefits from USB. The new USB 4 incorporates Thunderbolt data-transfer technology to make it more powerful and flexible. That should help reassure Thunderbolt customers who might need to plug a device into a USB port.
Thunderbolt's edge
Thunderbolt's advantages will persist over USB, predicts Larry O'Connor, the chief executive of Other World Computing, which makes peripherals using both USB and Thunderbolt.
The OWC Thunderbolt dock takes advantage of a Thunderbolt 4 ability, the option to include three ports on one dock or hub. They work as either Thunderbolt or USB-C ports.
Stephen Shankland/CNET
"I believe USB will be the step-down, more consumer-grade interface," O'Connor said. "Thunderbolt [will provide] the higher-end capability and reliability."
One significant difference between Thunderbolt and USB is the former's rigorous certification process. USB certification is somewhat chaotic and uncertain. For example, figuring out whether a USB-C cable supports high-power charging or the fastest data rates can involve some guesswork. That's all guaranteed with Thunderbolt. The thousandth Thunderbolt-certified device has just been approved.
Another tailwind for Thunderbolt is the falling price premium for peripherals compared to earlier Thunderbolt products. For example, CalDigit offers a Thunderbolt hub costing $179 and OWC's rival costs $149. That's still about three to four times what a USB hub costs, but so far, USB hubs don't offer multiple USB-C ports or support multiple 4K monitors. More people will benefit from Thunderbolt's top speeds as devices like 4K monitors become cheaper.
Intel continues its investment in Thunderbolt. That's good news for PC makers like Lenovo, which would like smoother Microsoft Windows support, lower power consumption, faster speeds and support for more monitors. Thunderbolt can handle two 4K displays.
Intel isn't detailing its Thunderbolt plans for the moment. But Intel's Ziller says the company will make Thunderbolt faster and easier to use.
"Simplicity, reliability and performance," he said, "are all important."
Vizio m series aio soundbar review great sound for soundboard vizio m series aio soundbar review great sound force vizio m series aio soundbar samsung vizio m series aio soundbar bose vizio m series quantum 70 il vizio massapequa vizio m series vs v series vizio m51a h6
Vizio M-Series AiO Soundbar Review: Great Sound for Everything Barring Atmos
Vizio M-Series AiO Soundbar Review: Great Sound for Everything Barring Atmos
The 2000s were a crazy time, and especially for TV buyers -- as the screens got flatter the designs became more and more outlandish. Huge glass borders, physical representations of sunsets and clouds, and other types of weirdness -- something which culminated in the infamous LG TV with a hole in it. As TVs grew in screen size, however, the bezels shrank and the designs became more conservative. It's this conservatism which has rubbed off on the now-ubiquitous TV partner, the soundbar. The current trend is for something you don't even notice is there -- that "blends into the living space". In real terms this translates to: "lots of black and gray".
The Vizio M-series All-in-One fits the brief in that it's gray, and though it's trapezoidal in shape, that detail is easy to miss. The brand has several other models that made our best soundbars list, and this one sits at the affordable end of the spectrum. As with previous "Toblerone" soundbars the company has released, this model's "drab" appearance belies its considerable audio chops.
Like
Sounds great for its size and price
Excellent bass response
Equally capable with music and movies
Two HDMI inputs offers flexibility
Don't Like
Kind of ugly
No expansion capabilities
No Wi-Fi streaming
No real (or even fake) Dolby Atmos
Compared to other soundbars at the price, it may not have the best features -- it lacks Wi-Fi music streaming, for example -- but the Vizio offers instead a full, rich performance. Yes, it boasts Dolby Atmos functionality but it's not able to generate height effects, though that's not surprising at this price.
If you don't mind the lack of true Atmos performance -- or its dowdy looks -- the Vizio M series offers plenty of punch for the money, and it is an ideal way to upgrade a budget TV for better music and movies.
Read more: Best Soundbar Under $300 in 2022
What's in the box
The side-mounted controls
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
Dolby Atmos soundbars are a whole thing, and when they're done well they literally bring a new dimension to your movies… and music too, why not? The M321 is a Dolby Atmos soundbar -- it has the logo and everything -- but don't read too much into it, as this is strictly a 2.1-channel soundbar. The Vizio also has DTS:X decoding, plus the use of DTS Virtual:X, and this is designed to simulate the sound coming from around and above you.
Designwise, the M213AD-K8 is 36 inches long, 2.13 inches high and 5.5 inches deep. While it is primarily designed to sit in front of your TV, it can also be situated on the wall (with two keyhole mounts) to point outward into your room. It comprises a plastic construction and features a gray cloth wrapper over the top. At one end, the bar has a set of controls including power and input selection.
The Bluetooth input is naturally blue
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The soundbar includes a complement of six drivers comprising two woofers, twin tweeters and a pair of 3-inch onboard "subwoofers." Unlike the competitive Denon DHT-S217 or Sonos Ray there is no facility to upgrade to more surround channels later. For example, there is no subwoofer output, as on the Denon, so you can't add a separate sub.
The front of the cloth-covered cabinet includes a colored LED to denote the input, as well as a series of white LEDs for volume. When changing the input, a friendly male voice will read out the name of the connection you're on. Unlike the glacially slow M-Elevate, I was relieved to find that the input changes instantaneously.
Two HDMI ports come as standard
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
The Vizio includes an HDMI input plus HDMI eARC and optical audio for hooking up your TV, two 3.5mm analog ports with one for a voice assistant like the Amazon Echo Dot, and a USB port for playing WAVs from a thumb drive.
Lastly, the remote offers volume control plus two bands of EQ and an input selector. The back of the remote helpfully includes a color code chart of the inputs.
The M-Series AIO remote
Ty Pendlebury/CNET
How does it sound?
We've heard good implementations of Dolby Atmos without needing dedicated height drivers -- the Sonos Beam Gen 2 comes instantly to mind -- but it's really hard to discern any difference between 5.1 and immersive content on the Vizio. But for almost everything else, it's great!
I compared the Vizio against two competing soundbars -- the Denon DHT-S217 and the Sonos Ray -- which are also single bars with "onboard" subwoofers.
I started my testing of these three products with the lobby scene from The Matrix, for its combination of fine detail, surround sound panning and deep bass. It was in this scene where the Vizio showed its dominance over the Denon and, to a lesser extent, the Sonos. The Vizio exhibited a wider soundstage than the Denon and a better separation of sound effects. The movie's soundtrack is complex and dense, but the Vizio managed to separate the varied types of gunfire from the falling shell casings and the thumping bassline. While the Vizio arranged each element in space across the soundstage, the Denon jumbled everything in altogether.
Meanwhile, though the much smaller Ray couldn't compete with the others for bass, it was still able outgrow the confines of the cabinet for a big sound similar to the Vizio's.
Both the Denon DHT-S217 and the Vizio claim to be able to reproduce Dolby Atmos, so I used the opening scene of Mad Max Fury Road to put this to the test. Firstly, the Vizio's resolution of the grinding, revolving Warner Brothers logo was the best of the three. So, too, with the spectral voices that followed. The dialogue was rendered clearly and was spread across the room, though it should be noted that there was zero hint of a height dimension. It was all spread across the horizontal plane.
The Denon, after disappointing with The Matrix, clawed back some ground with Mad Max. The soundstage widened, helped in part by the excellent sound mix, and when a newscaster uttered the words "thermonuclear skirmish," it had a pleasing otherworldliness to it. Like the Vizio, the Denon was also able to deliver plenty of bass energy in this scene -- from the gunning of the Charger's engine to the explosion that results in Max's capture by the War Boys.
Next, I fired up the Sonos Ray -- and while it struggled the most with dynamics during this scene, Max's dialogue had a satisfyingly rich tone. The Ray makes no pretense of being able to perform Atmos height effects -- it's not Dolby certified -- and not surprisingly, it didn't.
Disappointingly, neither of the compatible devices were able to convince me of the dimension of height in this scene -- which goes to show that an Atmos tick box is no indicator of performance.
Though the Vizio isn't able to stream over Wi-Fi, you can still use music apps on your TV or zap tunes over Bluetooth. In the former regard it performed quite well against both the Denon and the Ray. Though the one thing I noticed is that the Vizio will let you keep inching the volume up until it's pushed well into distortion, and this is most noticeable with music. The Denon and the Sonos, meanwhile, were sensibly capped before they reached that point.
In the hands of the Denon, the burbling keyboards of Talking Heads' Girlfriend is Better sounded like they were coming from well outside of the cabinet. The song had a huge soundstage which the Vizio couldn't replicate. I kept turning the Vizio up and it got steely pretty quickly, even though the bass didn't distort. Given it was the smallest of the three, the Sonos still sounded tight on this song, and while it wasn't capable of the bass extension of the other two, it was still relatively tight and didn't distort at top volume.
Next with Yulunga (Spirit Dance) by Dead Can Dance, I found that this epic track was afforded pleasantly deep bass on the Vizio. However, it did struggle to present the music with the wide vista the material demanded. By comparison, the Denon was able to delineate between the shakers in the left and right extremes while also offering better clarity overall.
In summary I found that there wasn't much to separate the Denon and the Vizio in particular, performance-wise, but the Vizio is ultimately cheaper and easier to use. The Sonos Ray, with its expandability and streaming chops is for a different kind of user who values music above all. It may not have the bass response of the others, but it's a perfect set-and-forget for a smaller TV/music streaming system.
Should you buy it?
Don't let the Vizio M213AD-K8's Dolby Atmos certification confuse you -- this is a stereo soundbar and in that capacity it performs very well. It could turn its hand to music or movies quite well, and it's relatively affordable and easy to use.
The Vizio's only real "issue" is that it's pretty ugly, especially for the money. That gray fabric may be in vogue right now, but it's really, really drab. Though some other soundbars, such as the Klipsch Cinema 400, offer a glimpse of a return to attractive design, most soundbars at this level are pretty bland.
Overall, it's great, if only a little flawed. If you want even better bang for your buck you could try the cheaper Vizio V21, which offers a wireless subwoofer, making it even better for movies.
You are a badass look out we got a badass the answers to wordle think of a word answer to nyt wordle the wordle new york think real estate lee ann womack i ll think of a reason later think you re smart think you re crazy think again thank you response email think you know co uk
Think You're a Wordle Badass? Octordle Will Humble You Fast...
Think You're a Wordle Badass? Octordle Will Humble You Fast...
I am officially giving a big ol' thanks a lot to "Steve" on Twitter for alerting me to Octordle, a challenging variant of the Wordle word game genre. Octordle has vexed me more than the original or its early offshoots of Dordle (two words) and Quordle (four words). And I keep going back for more.
When I wrote about Quordle in mid-February, I joked about where the madness would end. Turns out it wasn't a joke. Octordle throws down a version of Wordle that asks you to sort out eight different five-letter words at the same time with only 13 guesses to do it in.
The mechanics are familiar. You get clues as to which letters are in each word and which aren't and which ones are simply in the wrong places. While Wordle is a fun, breezy thing I do while sipping my morning coffee, Octordle is more like an all-day battle of attrition. What will give out first? The correct answers? My guesses? My patience?
At first, I thought Octordle would be an afterthought. Too many words. I had to draw the line somewhere. But it's like a little devil on my shoulder, beckoning me to play after I've conquered Wordle, Dordle and Quordle for the day.
I haven't been playing Octordle for long, but I've failed to get all eight words right about a third of the time, whereas I'm pretty much a Wordle ace (despite some early struggles). Do I like losing? No. Is it good for me? Yes. When I lose, it's often because of something silly, like ignoring the letter clues or missing a super-simple word. An Octordle failure is an invitation to reflection, to consider my attention to detail and how I react to frustration.
Octordle is word play and life lessons all in one. And it makes Wordle and its simplicity all the sweeter.
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Asus ROG Flow X13 gives a thin-and-light laptop an external graphics punch
Asus ROG Flow X13 gives a thin-and-light laptop an external graphics punch
This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon.
The last time someone introduced a thin-and-light lightweight gaming laptop with an external GPU, I laughed. But that's because it shed its weight by ditching a discrete graphics card, like an Nvidia GeForce GTX. In other words, to game, you needed the eGPU. Asus has taken the same idea to CES 2021, but made sense of it with the ROG Flow X13 and its eGPU sidekick, the ROG XG Mobile.
The laptop's a 2.9-pound, 13-inch two-in-one with a GTX 1650 GPU running the new eight-core, 35- to 54-watt AMD Ryzen 9 5980HS. The optional eGPU serves as a USB hub with a 280-watt power supply that can drive the laptop. It also incorporates the highest-power gaming GPU on mobile, a desktop Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080.
In order to facilitate that, Asus is using a proprietary connector (Alienware long has as well). Why? Because Thunderbolt throttles the connection between the GPU and the main system, and the bandwidth is split among the other connections. That means it couldn't power the hub without taking a hit. Plus, when the eGPU is connected, the system disables the integrated GPU, so it can allocate the power savings to the eGPU.
The XG Mobile is a hub plus eGPU enclosure equipped with an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080.
Asus
Unlike most eGPUs, the XG Mobile is relatively small: 55 by 208 by 29 mm and 2.2 pounds. It contains four USB-A connections, an SD card slot and gigabit Ethernet, as well as the DisplayPort and HDMI ports on the actual graphics card. It has a stand to prop it up and some illumination as well.
The laptop serving as a two-in-one is the icing on the cake, though 13 inches feels pretty small for a gaming laptop. Asus is likely assuming you'll be connected to an external monitor when docked.
It's a clever solution, and hopefully the first of many variations on the thin-and-light gaming laptop. But this one won't come cheap. It will initially ship only as a bundle, and the XG Mobile will cost about as much as the laptop when it ships separately, though there will be less expensive a step-down model. You can preorder the bundle now on Asus' site for $3,200. (International prices aren't available, but that's about £2,350 or AU$4,140.)
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2022 Honda Civic Si debuts, features the Type R's rev-matching system
2022 Honda Civic Si debuts, features the Type R's rev-matching system
The all-new 2022 Honda Civic Si debuted today, blending the improvements of the 11th-generation Civic sedan with a touch of extra performance spice. The new model improves over the previous generation with upgrades and refinements aimed at making the sports sedan more fun and engaging to drive.
While the track-focused Type R is the wild-child of the Civic lineup -- both dynamically and stylistically -- the Si is traditionally targeted at drivers looking for something just a little hotter than the average Civic. The performance is aimed more at daily driving flexibility, while the design plays it a bit closer to the vest. Personally, I think Honda may have gone a touch too conservative with the new Si's appearance. Aside from the new rear spoiler, Si badges and dual exhaust tips, you'd be hard-pressed to tell the Si from a regular Civic Sport at 100 paces.
That may not be a bad thing for drivers looking for a sleeper -- flying under the radar without a massive wing certainly has its advantages. Plus, the standard Civic sedan is already a very handsome ride. Those who do a double-take will note the Si's sportier stance, enlarged brakes and standard matte-black 18-inch wheels -- as opposed to the glossy black Civic Sport wheels -- shod in all-season performance rubber or optional summer tires. Listen closely and you may also note that the aforementioned dual-exhaust flows more freely and, thanks to its coil-style design, should also sound better on the road.
Under the hood, the new Si is still powered by a 1.5-liter turbocharged four-cylinder. The revised engine makes 192 pound-feet of torque and 200 peak horsepower. Interestingly, that's down 5 hp from the last generation's 205 ponies. Honda claims the new powerband is now broader overall and now peaks at a higher RPM, which should improve responsiveness, performance and driveability across a wider range.
The exhaust system features a coiled design for its dual tips, which Honda says improves the tone.
Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow
A 26% lighter flywheel helps to further boost throttle response while mating the four-banger to a six-speed manual transmission. This is the only gearbox available to Si shoppers -- no CVT nonsense here -- and features the rev-matching system from the Civic Type R that can automatically blip the throttle to perfectly match downshifts in around four-tenths of a second. The shifter promises a better in-hand feel thanks to improved engagement, firmer mounting points and a throw that's 10-percent shorter. Finally, power meets the pavement at the front-wheels via a standard helical limited-slip differential.
Obviously, the new Si benefits from the inherent improvements to the 11th-gen Civic Sedan's chassis, which is stiffer overall, has a wider rear track and a longer wheelbase than the previous generation. Specific to the Si are stiffer springs and stabilizer bars, reinforced suspension mounting points and more sport-focused steering. Many of the stiffer suspension bushings and some rear suspension bits -- the upper B-arms, specifically -- have also been borrowed from the Type R. Where the previous model used two-mode adaptive dampers, the new Si features static shocks that are tuned for a better sport-touring balance overall. (Honda justifies this change with claims that many 10th-generation Si drivers never even used the old "too stiff" Sport suspension setting.)
I hope you like rowing your own gears, because the six-speed manual is the only gearbox available.
Antuan Goodwin/Roadshow
Inside, there are new sport seats that are unique to the Si with integrated headrests, improved bolstering and thigh support and embroidered Si badges. Red contrast stitching highlights the seats, steering wheel and shifter, while red trim can be found on the dash and door panels. The cabin tech suite is all gear we've seen previously on the standard Civic Sedan, including a 7-inch combo digital instrument cluster, 12-speaker Bose audio and a 9-inch main infotainment display that features wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Additionally, the Honda Sensing suite of active safety tech is also standard, rounding out a solid tech loadout.
Honda calls this the "best-handling, best-equipped and most fun-to-drive Civic Si ever," a bold claim that we're eager to put to the test. Pricing has not yet been announced, but it's a pretty safe bet that it won't stray too far from the previous generation's circa-$25,000 ballpark, where it should compete with the likes of Volkswagen's GTI and the Hyundai Elantra N Line. The 2022 Honda Civic Si hits the road later this year.
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The ultralight Asus ExpertBook B9450 has a magic touchpad and a light for Alexa
The ultralight Asus ExpertBook B9450 has a magic touchpad and a light for Alexa
This story is part of CES, where CNET covers the latest news on the most incredible tech coming soon.
The Asus ExpertBook B9450 is the "world's lightest 14-inch business notebook," Asus says, with a starting weight of 1.9 pounds (0.9 kg), but it's far from the only thing that makes it interesting. Co-engineered with Intel for its Project Athena program, the laptop is designed to deliver the same type of performance experience you get from your phone.
Part of Intel's verification requirements is a battery life long enough to get you through an entire workday; the base model B9450 gets up to 12 hours, but you can get it with a larger battery that doubles that time. And it'll charge up to 60% in 39 minutes.
The components are pretty much the same as what we're seeing from competitors in the category including processor options up to a 10th-gen Intel Core i7-10510. Where this Asus stands out is the design. Along with being light, the magnesium-lithium alloy body is tested to Mil-Spec 810G standards for drops, shocks, vibration, dust resistance and more.
One thing you definitely won't find on others is the NumberPad 2.0, an LED-illuminated numeric keypad that appears on the touchpad when you tap an icon in its upper right corner. What's nicer is you don't have to turn it off to use the pad for cursor control because the software is smart enough to know the difference.
The B9450 has a numberpad built into the touchpad and a light on the front edge for Alexa activity.
Asus
The ErgoLift hinge is nice, too, which puts the spill-resistant keyboard at a more comfortable angle for typing on such a thin laptop. Also, just below the touchpad on the front edge is light that works with the integrated Amazon Alexa support letting you know when the digital voice assistant is active.
Pricing wasn't announced, but Asus expects the ExpertBook B9450 to be available some time in Q1 of this year.
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Apple Watch Series 7 Hits Lowest Price Yet With $120 Off for Amazon Prime Day
Apple Watch Series 7 Hits Lowest Price Yet With $120 Off for Amazon Prime Day
This story is part of Amazon Prime Day, CNET's guide to everything you need to know and how to find the best deals.
The Apple Watch Series 7 is arguably the best smartwatch you can buy right now. And the wearable is part of the Amazon Prime Day sale with a flat 30% discount. This means you can grab the $399 41mm variant for $279, with a $120 discount. The 45mm model is on sale as well. You can get it for the same discount, which brings the price down to $309 from $429.
Best Buy
The Apple Watch Series 7's larger screen and faster charging make an already great smartwatch even better. With more features coming in later this year, thanks to watchOS 9, this is the best time to purchase the Series 7 at a discount.
With faster charging and a larger screen, it might feel like a refinement over the Watch Series 6, but it makes a huge difference. For instance, you get a full-fledged keyboard on the Watch Series 7 because of the larger display. Other upgrades include a more durable design, 33% faster charging and new color options on the Aluminum casing.
With WatchOS 9 adding several new features, including Medications tracking, there hasn't been a better time to buy an Apple Watch. Other features include more advanced fall detection, which can tell if you have taken a sudden tumble during a cycle or workout, plus the option to store digital versions of your ID and more.
If you have been on the fence about buying the Apple Watch Series 7, now is the best time to spend on the Apple Wearable. The $120 discount is the biggest sale offer the smartwatch has received to date and it'll be available only while the stock lasts. If you're after the lowest price we've seen for this smartwatch, move quickly and cash in on the $279 deal.
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Best mobile games to play this Halloween while you're stuck inside
Best mobile games to play this Halloween while you're stuck inside
Halloween is almost here, although it's safe to say it'll be unlike any spooky season we've seen before, with people taking precautions amid the coronavirus pandemic. The horror genre is a staple in the month of October, but a good mystery (with a dash of suspense) can be equally satisfying.
If you're staying in this Halloween (and you've exhausted your horror movie queue) we've pulled together a list of games for you that you can play on your phone or tablet -- no console needed. You can also check out our list of the best games you can play online with friends, and everything you need to know about the latest viral game, Among Us.
Read more: Best game subscription services: How to choose
Night School Studio
Oxenfree stayed with me long after the credits rolled. A group of friends hanging out on a beach take a turn for the worse when the teens accidentally open a ghostly rift. Soon the group is fighting for survival, struggling through time loops, and doubting if everyone is truly who they say they are.
I can't speak highly enough of this choice-based game. The characters had depth and the plot was fascinating. It's a quick game you could play in one sitting, but there's multiple endings so you can always go back.
Platform: iOS | Android
Price: $5 on Android. At the time of publication, the game was free on iOS.
GameSpot
Life is Strange isn't necessarily a scary game, but it's worth including for its mystery and suspense. The choice-based game tells the story of Max, a girl who starts having visions and soon learns she can bend time. With her newfound powers, she might be able to save the town from impending disaster.
When a student goes missing, Max and her friend Chloe start investigating and discover the dark side of their hometown. As Max changes the past, it impacts the future.
The graphics in Life is Strange are beautiful, even on a smartphone screen. The plot is intricate and accompanied by a great soundtrack. There's also a second installment to check out, called Life is Strange: Before the Storm.
Platforms: Android | iOS
Price: Free to download, but each episode costs between $1-$5 to download. There's also an option to purchase for a season pass that gets you all the episodes for $7.
Kaigan Games/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
In Sara is Missing, you find a missing girl's phone. The whole app displays as if your smartphone is Sara's, complete with alerts, texts and error messages.
Unlocking Sara's phone plunges you into a world of lies, mystery and secrets. Look through text messages and emails, retrieve lost files and data, watch suspicious videos and search through pictures to piece together Sara's last moments. Your search is guided by the mobile assistant IRIS, which might be hiding a few secrets of its own.
The game has multiple choice-based endings for future replays, hidden subplots and quite a few jump scares.
Platforms: Android | iOS
Price: Free
Annapurna Interactive
Gone Home will suck you in from the very start. You play as Katie Greenbriar, freshly home from a year in Europe. Except when you make it back to your house (in the middle of a thunderstorm no less), your family has seemingly vanished.
Explore all the nooks and crannies of the sprawling house. Collect clues, and unravel what happened to your family while you were gone. This game is quite immersive. When I started playing, I found myself turning on all the lights to stave off the unnerving feeling of being in this deserted house. I felt sadness and frustration as I opened doors and found no one behind them.
This game is perfect to play on a dark Halloween night, but definitely goes beyond spooky season.
Platform: iOS
Price: $5
Jenny LeClue/Twitter
Jenny LeClue is a mystery game you can get with a subscription to Apple's gaming service, Apple Arcade. The narrative-choice game is set in the seemingly idyllic town of Arthurton, where you play as Jenny, a kid sleuth who is eager to prove her worth as a detective. When your mother is accused of murder, you set out to prove the truth. You quickly realize that nothing, and no one, in Arthurton are what they seem as you seek out answers.
Platform:iOS
Price: Included with $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Neo Cab is a survival game for the digital age embroiled in a mystery. You play as Lina, the last human taxi driver in a world overcome by automation. When you move to Los Ojos to reconnect with your best friend, Savy, things don't go as planned when she vanishes. With no other options, you must keep taking passengers to earn money and get information about Savy's disappearance. Just keep an eye on your Feelgrid bracelet to stay in tune with your emotions and ultimately remain human in this tech-noir game.
Platform:iOS
Price: Included with $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription
Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
Year Walk is an amazing game to play on mobile. It's based on the Swedish tradition of Arsgang, Year Walking, in which a person may go on a vision quest of sorts, in the dark of the night to see what the year ahead will bring. Thrown into a forest without a tutorial, you have to collect clues and solve puzzles in what is some seriously clever and creative gameplay for an incredible twist ending. Don't forget to pick up the free companion app.
Platform: iOS
Price: $6
Guts United/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
I Am Innocent is a mystery-suspense game, similar to Sara Is Missing. The gameplay is longer and more intricate, though. You'll investigate a series of murders that somehow link to the disappearance of your sister. No one is who they seem as you dig deeper and unearth secrets.
As in real life, how you interact with the characters can improve or hurt your relationships. You start getting messages from a mysterious person named Ghost, who connects you to a kidnapped person named Finch who needs your help.
Use your resources to enhance photos, collect information, search archives, figure out what happened to your sister and help Finch. There are built-in Tetris-style games that, once you beat them, unlock more information.
Platforms: Android | iOS
Price: Free
Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
This is one of the most gorgeous games I've ever played. Dear Esther has similar underpinnings to Gone Home, but it's more of an interactive narrative. At its very basest description, the game is a walking simulator, but it's so much more than that. As you explore an island, the narrator will "read" you fragments of letters written to Esther. Where you venture triggers different parts of the narrative, so the more times you play, the more you'll understand the whole story.
If you play, go into it with an open mind and just let yourself be immersed in the environment.
Platform: iOS
Price: $2
Microsoft
Explore a haunted hotel, a destroyed pillow factory and an abandoned circus to figure out the surreal town of Thimbleweed Park's secrets.
Thimbleweed Park is a humorous noir parody set in 1987, nostalgic in its pixelated style. If you're looking for a more lighthearted but nonetheless fun game to play, this is it. Play as Agent Ray and Junior Agent Reyes, a Mulder-and-Scully-esque duo, or Frank the ghost, a cranky clown named Ransome, or game developer Delores. Characters can work together, or make solving the murder more difficult for others.
Since its release, the game has become available on Xbox, too.
Platforms: Android | iOS
Price: $10
Playdead
Limbo is a side-scrolling puzzle platformer that is every bit as creepy as it looks. Waking up on the edge of hell, you have to navigate a small boy through nightmarish chiaroscuro landscapes filled with horrific monsters and traps in this dark game of grief, violence and guilt.
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
Heisen Games/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
In Horror Hospital, you've got to save your friends from ghosts while navigating your surroundings with just your phone's flashlight. As you make your way, your friends will send messages to direct you.
Creep down dirty hallways smeared with bloody handprints, dismembered corpses and overturned beds. Just be careful where you shine your light; you never know what's lurking in the shadows.
The game's graphics aren't top-notch, but it's good for suspense and gentle jump scares. It's like a watered-down version of 2013's Outlast. If you like it, there's a sequel, Horror Hospital 2 on Android and iOS. The developers even made a Horror Forest.
Platforms: Android | iOS
Price: Free
Hidden Layer Games
Inmost immediately drops players into a creepy world inside a mysterious house. Despite the pixel art design and tiny characters, the game is gorgeous and immersive from the start. As you progress and explore in this hidden-object platformer, you'll find that the characters' stories are connected as they fight the forces of evil.
Platform:iOS
Price: Included with $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription
Boomerang Games/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
In The Fear you have to find your family in a creepy house after a car accident.
You swerve in the night to avoid a strange figure in the road. When you come to, your wife and child have vanished. Of course, when you make it to the nearest house, the electricity is out. Someone, or something, is following you, spirits lurk, children laugh and there are weird, threatening notes everywhere.
The Fear actually has a solid plot and a good ending. The graphics are better than Horror Hospital and there are effective jump-scares. If you're a fan of this game, Boomerang Games also made The Fear 2 and The Fear 3.
Platform: Android
Price: Free
Apple/Screenshot by Shelby Brown/CNET
From the creators of Limbo, Inside creates an absolutely chilling world without a word of dialogue. The thought-provoking puzzle game is dark and mysterious with an ending that you'll be talking about long after it's over.
Platform: iOS
Price: Free
Apple Arcade
Detective Grimoire and his sardonic partner Sally are on the hunt for the murderer of Freya Fellow in the mysterious Tangle Tower. The clues come pouring in long before you cross the first threshold to find out that the prime suspect is a painting. Investigate, explore, gather evidence, question suspects and solve puzzles to discover the truth.
Platform:iOS
Price: Included with $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription
Apple
The Bradwell Conspiracy is a narrative-driven first-person game where you have to uncover the truth behind the explosion that destroyed the Bradwell Electronics facility. At the start of the game, you wake up in the rubble with only a computerized voice in your "smart glasses" to guide you. The glasses guide eventually connects you to another person trapped inside the facility, and you must try to escape together.
Platform:iOS
Price: Included with $5-a-month Apple Arcade subscription
If you liked Sara Is Missing and I Am Innocent, Her Story will also be up your alley. It's more in the detective genre than the other two, however. The game's interface is an old computer that's logged into a police database. You'll watch seven interviews from 1994 of a woman being interviewed about her missing husband. As you watch, you can dig deeper in your investigation by searching the database.
Macbook pro m1 max issues reddit apple macbook pro m1 max review m1 max macbook air problems on the m1 today incident on the m1 today crashes on the m1 what happened when my entire family came out what happened to my 401k when i quit what happened when you die what happened when eve ate the apple
What happened when my M1 Max MacBook Pro met a $60,000 camera
What happened when my M1 Max MacBook Pro met a $60,000 camera
When Apple launched its latest line of MacBook Pros with the new M1 Max chips, I was excited, as a professional photographer, by the upgrades and what that could mean for working creatives. The 16-inch model with an M1 Max CPU impressed CNET's Dan Ackerman so much it earned a coveted Editors' Choice award.
So when I got one in my hands, I wanted to see how well it copes with a demanding professional photoshoot workload.
I put the top-end 16-inch Pro with the M1 Max chip with 64GB of RAM to the test in a studio photoshoot with probably the world's best -- and most demanding -- camera. It's the Phase One XFIQ4, a commercial-standard medium format camera that churns out whopping 150-megapixel images and costs somewhere north of $60,000. This beast is in the hands of elite professional commercial photographers the world over, and its stunning, detailed images would be a great test for the M1 Max chip.
The finished image I created was eventually made up of 28 individual full-resolution images composited together into what you see here.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
I put together an ambitious product photoshoot of a "technology stir fry" showing a variety of tech products being tossed in oil in a wok above roaring flames. It involved shooting all the different elements individually, then piecing together numerous images from the camera into the single, finished shot seen above. This kind of compositing work can be demanding on a system, especially when working with multiple high-resolution layers.
The finished image was made of 28 full-resolution images, loaded into a single document in Photoshop, each one with its own masking, adjustments and other effects. In short, it's a behemoth of a Photoshop document, clocking in at almost 11GB in size.
Anecdotally, working on the MacBook Pro felt swift. The camera was tethered over USB-C and the images were taken, imported and initially adjusted in Phase One's own Capture One Pro software, which has been optimized for Apple's M1 chips. It was zippy, with no noticeable lag when making adjustments to the images or when flicking between the shots I'd taken, despite their size. This alone was a relief, as some of my product photoshoots can involve taking hundreds upon hundreds of images and any slowdown from the machine can be frustrating.
Shooting the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra in the wok. These complex composites take time and are demanding on both photographer and computer, but they're common in the industry and any way to increase the speed of the workflow is welcome.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
I initially exported 45 full-resolution images (in Phase One's .IIQ format), which I loaded into an image stack in Photoshop. On the M1 Max MacBook it took 2 minutes, 44 seconds to load the images into the document. I did the same thing using the older 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro (a 2020 model with 16GB of RAM) and it struggled, crashing multiple times before eventually taking almost exactly 5 minutes to load the stack.
Time taken to load 45-image stack in Photoshop
16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max (2021)
13-inch MacBook Pro M1 (2020)
16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9, 2019)
Note:
Shorter bars equals better performance
I then tried the same import test with a 2019 16-inch, Intel Core i9 MacBook Pro with 64GB of RAM, which took 4 minutes, 43 seconds. It should be noted that this MacBook is my work-provided one, and as such has a variety of security applications running in the background that could affect its performance.
Time taken to auto-align 45 images in Photoshop
16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max (2021)
13-inch MacBook Pro M1 (2020)
16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9, 2019)
Note:
Shorter bars equals better performance
Once loaded, I selected the layers and used the Auto-Align tool to ensure all the images lined up with each other. It's a demanding process but one that I use regularly for product photography, so efficient performance here is essential for my workflow. The M1 Max model took 6 minutes, 24 seconds to align the layers, the 16-inch Intel model took 7 minutes, 15 seconds while the 13-inch M1 model took a whopping 18 minutes, 20 seconds to complete the same task.
Forty-five full-resolution layers might not sound like a lot, but keep in mind that these are from a 150-megapixel medium format camera, so each individual image is huge and packed with detail.
Andrew Hoyle/CNET
The M1 Max MacBook handled the rest of the edit without any issue, allowing me to zoom in and out without lag or showing any real signs of slowing down. I ended up deleting some layers to get down to the 28 that made up the final image, yet even with every layer having its own masks and effects, the machine coped admirably with the edit process.
My next test involved a focus stack of an image of an iPhone I shot with the Phase One camera. Focus stacking involves taking separate images of an object at different focus points before merging those shots to achieve pin-sharp focus from front to back. As with layer aligning, it's a demanding task for the processor. You can see the full breakdown below of times it took each MacBook to load the 12 individual 303MB DNG (Adobe Digital Negative raw) files into an image stack, align the images and then focus stack in Photoshop, but the M1 Max was way ahead of the others on every single test, with the focus stacking tool in particular seeming to benefit from the M1 optimizations in Photoshop.
MacBook Pro performance comparisons
16-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max (2021)
13-inch MacBook Pro M1 (2020)
16-inch MacBook Pro (Intel Core i9, 2019)
Legend:
Time taken to load 12 DNG files into Photoshop stack
Time taken to align 12 DNG files in Photoshop
Time taken to focus stack 12 DNG files
Note:
Shorter bars equals better performance
Arguably that should come as no surprise, given that it's the latest model and it's running Apple's top-performing processor with the highest amount of RAM you can get it with. But pro photographers are a demanding bunch and time is money in a busy studio, so it's good to know the extra investment for the M1 Max will indeed result in faster and more efficient work.
