TechLifeDecember 2021的目錄

Are we all excited about the launch of Windows 11?!? Well, some of us are. Some of us are also forever wary about new Windows releases, and look upon a new OS launch with a touch of concern. Things change, stuff moves around, and inevitably there are rough edges to smooth over. If you work on your PC as much as I do... You kinda fear change a little. And then there are Linux users, cheerfully above all this drama – and in this issue, we’re going to show you how can join that chill crowd and switch your PC over to the Penguin Side. You can even keep your old Windows OS running alongside it! We see Windows 11 not just as an exciting development – or a cause…

Over the past year and a half, consumers have started shopping online more than ever before and many of their searches begin on Google which is why the search giant has announced that it’s adding new ways to find shopping inspiration across its products. Since inspiration can strike at any time from an image you see online to a photo saved on your smartphone or even from something in the real world that catches your eye, the company is adding new features to Google Lens that make products users see instantly shoppable. Beginning soon, iOS users will see a new button in the Google app that makes all of the images on a page searchable through Google Lens. This will make finding a product you see online in a picture,…

Apparently there are fresh pricing difficulties with PC components – and it’s apparently to do with the supply of copper foil which is used in printed circuit boards (PCBs). As Tom’s Hardware spotted, there is a DigiTimes report which points out that prices are heading upwards – indeed, ‘surging’ – for copper and copper-clad laminates (CCLs) which are used in the production of the aforementioned PCBs. This is due to the rising price of copper, and more specifically, the spiking price of copper foil which has gone up by some 35% or so since the end of 2020. CCLs are produced using this foil (on both sides), and so those price hikes – plus increased costs associated with higher transportation costs, and more overall demand for PCBs across the tech…

Organoids are miniature versions of organs that scientists can grow in the lab from stem cells, or cells that can mature into any type of cell in the body. Previously scientists have developed tiny beating hearts and tear ducts that could cry like a human’s do. Scientists have even grown mini brains that produce brain waves like those of pre-term babies. Now a group of scientists have grown mini brains that have something their real counterparts do not: a set of eye-like structures called ‘optic cups’ that give rise to the retina, the tissue that sits in the back of the eye and contains light-sensing cells. In the human body, the retina sends signals to the brain via the optic nerve, allowing us to see images. “In the mammalian brain,…

$35.95, www.microsoft.com, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Mac In Sable, you fill the boots of the titular protagonist as they, a fledgling member of the Ibexi Clan, embark on a rite of passage named The Gliding. After completing a tutorial set inside the Ibexi Camp – which involves collecting parts for a customisable hoverbike you’ll build, and latterly name Simoon – you leave your hometown on your lonesome, and take off into the unknown in search of masks said to define your personality. It’s at this point the scale of Sable’s sprawling playground comes into focus. Its rolling hills, towering cliff faces, knife-edge gullies, and abandoned futuristic structures all loom on the horizon, and suddenly everything and anything seems possible. It’s a poignant moment that echoes the likes of Zelda: Breath of…

$8.99/month, www.paramountplus.com Another day, another streaming platform. This time ViacomCBS has rebranded its existing 10 All Access service as Paramount Plus. It’s been available in the US and Canada since March 2021, however, the streaming service has now officially launched in Australia, and at a cheaper price than the American versions. Paramount Plus folds in pre-existing content from 10 All Access along with a raft of on-demand movies and shows from Viacom’s various holdings, Showtime, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and Smithsonian Channel, packaged together with US broadcast news and, of course, Paramount Plus Originals. App design and UI Why reinvent the wheel? The Paramount Plus app hops on the Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Stan and Binge bandwagon and offers a similar interface that users will easily navigate. Opening…

$2,499, www.lenovo.com Let’s be honest here, a majority of consumers can’t afford a gaming PC, despite PC gaming growing faster than ever. This is what makes the Lenovo Legion Tower 5i so great for people just starting out with PC gaming. This entry level gaming desktop features a six-core Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Super and a 256GB PCIe SSD alongside an extra 1TB 7200RPM HDD. This hardware may not deliver the absolute greatest performance for AAA-titles. For example, the budget-friendly GTX 1660 Super included doesn’t offer ray tracing or DLSS capabilities. SSD storage is fairly low at a time where game sizes are increasing as well. However, it’s more than enough for today’s biggest esports games like Fortnite, Rocket League and League…

Nextbase 622GW’s recording capabilities are excellent. Video is super crisp and smooth thanks to its 4K resolution, while the image stabilisation helps dampen screen judder from road bumps and even the car’s acceleration. $495, www.nextbase.com The 622GW shares a similar chassis with its sister dash cams, the 522GW and 422GW. But while the latter two feature a black case with brushed metal trim, Nextbase has plumped for a slightly staid-looking battleship grey this time around. It’s not the most exciting design we’ve ever seen, but then again, you won’t be looking at anything other than the back most of the time. As you’d expect from its premium price, the 622GW is bursting with top-tier features. Before you hit the road with the Nextbase 622GW, you’ll need to set your language…

$399 for two, www.swann.com Swann may not be a name that many people are familiar with, but the Australian brand founded in Melbourne has been around for some time and its reputation is steadily growing. There’s certainly nothing flimsy about the Swann Xtreem security camera. A bulky unit, it looks and feels reassuringly well made, tipping the scales at around 350g. Part of the reason for this is a built-in rechargeable battery that provides up to six months of charge. At the front is the Full HD lens while underneath is the motion sensor and the recording and /pairing lights, which illuminate red and blue respectively. On the top of the unit beneath a waterproof cover is the reset button as well as the Micro SD card slot for storage.…

FILMIC FIRSTLIGHT $ 7.99 filmicpro.com Change exposure more quickly by swiping vertically anywhere in the display, and adjust focus by swiping horizontally. Clipping warnings tell you which areas are over– or under–exposed and focus clipping tells you which areas are sharp or blurred. You can also use Firstlight to capture raw .dng files on older iPhone models. HALIDE MK II Free (IAPs) halide.cam This Camera app uses focus peaking to check that a subject is sharp or summons a focus loupe magnifier to double–check. A histogram display helps you capture detail throughout the tonal range. Haptic feedback and an overlay ensures your horizons are never tilted. It also enables you to save in ProRaw on an iPhone 12 Pro. PS CAMERA Free (IAPs) adobe.com This…

1 Night mode Night mode automatically chooses an exposure time (such as 10 seconds), but you can drag the countdown slider to choose a different duration. During the shot a Hold Still message appears. Keep the cross–hairs aligned to avoid blur. 2 Change focus In Photo mode the iPhone focuses on the closest foreground subject. However, you can tap on a background object to place the square focus/exposure reticule on that. Drag the sun icon up or down to tweak exposure. 3 AE/AF Lock In contrasting locations the Camera changes exposure to reveal highlight or shadow detail. Hold your finger on the screen to summon the AE/AF Lock. This preserves detail in a bright sky when you reframe the shot. 4 Manual exposure Exposure is set automatically but it may…

Capture the world in motion. Your iPhone doesn’t just take stills. You can also use it to shoot video clips in up to 4K resolution, “live” photos, slo-mo clips, time-lapses and more. The iPhone 12 models can also shoot video in a High Dynamic Range (HDR) Dolby Vision format. This new 10-bit format enables you to capture clips with a wider contrast range and more detail and color than you’ll see in the 8-bit SDR (Standard Dynamic Range) clips captured by older iPhone models. To activate HDR go to Settings > Camera and tap on Record Video. Toggle on the HDR Video (High Efficiency) option. Choose a size such as 1080p HD. When you switch to the Camera app’s Video mode you’ll see an HD icon at the top-left (when…

1 Wide-angle woes When shooting a time-lapse using the Ultra-Wide lens you may notice perspective distortion that causes vertical lines to converge towards the top of the frame. A tripod-mounted iPhone’s horizon may be tilted too. 2 Straighten horizon Tap the Edit button, then tap the Crop tool icon. This gives you access to a Straighten tool. Drag the Straighten tool’s slider to counteract the tilted horizon. A Rule of Thirds overlay grid will appear to help you get a perfectly straight horizon. 3 Perspective distortion Tap the vertical perspective control icon and swipe to make the building’s converging vertical lines run parallel with the edge of the frame. Drag the clip to make sure that the top of the building remains in shot. 4 Improve exposure If a clip…

LUMINAR AI $108, skylum.com Luminar uses machine learning to recommend a suitable template (or file) for each image. It also enables you to creatively enhance a landscape by adding a new sky (without needing to be a compositing master). You can also summon it as a Photos extension. LIGHTROOM CLASSIC $14.29 per month, adobe.com If you have multiple hard drives with thousands of old DSLR photos then Lightroom Classic will help you create a catalog that knows where every file is located (even if the drive isn’t plugged into your Mac). Its powerful Raw processing tools make it essential for pro photographers. PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS 2021 $145.19, adobe.com This cut down version of Photoshop still gives you the ability to edit in layers and make…

B&O Beosound Explore $350 bang-olufsen.com WE’RE IMPRESSED Excellent balance; attractive, tough design; great small size. WE’D IMPROVE Sound isn’t expansive; no 3.5mm audio jack input. THE LAST WORD Small and ultra-tough, the Explore excels in both looks and build quality. It also sounds seriously impressive, although it’s a bit lacking in oomph when compared to the JBL. However, once you factor in its much smaller and more portable package – not to mention that epic battery life – it rapidly becomes the obvious choice for your backpack, whether you’re heading to the park or the mountains. JBL Charge 5 >$199 > jbl.com WE’RE IMPRESSED Loud, powerful sound; 20-hour battery life; can also charge. WE’D IMPROVE No EQ settings; can’t use PartyBoost with Connect+ speakers; no 3.5mm audio port. THE LAST…

It doesn’t take long to fill your Mac’s hard drive or solid-state drive with clutter. Old photos or work files can quickly take up hundreds of megabytes of precious storage space – take a look at your folder that contains email attachments, you’ll find that alone is taking up a surprising amount of GB. One common problem is that many of us tend to create duplicate versions of files that people send us – photos from a friend, or PDF files from a work colleague. There’s a tendency to automatically create duplicates of photos and files that we need, say, for work, keeping the originals safe in one folder while editing the duplicates in another. There are many apps that can help you deal with duplicate files, but the one…

The Find My app for iPhone and iPad makes it easy to keep track of your Apple devices – you can do so on your Mac and on iCloud (although they work slightly differently). With iOS 14.5 and iPadOS 14.5, you can now keep tabs on other items too, thanks to support for third-party hardware such as Belkin’s SoundForm True Wireless AirPods and VanMoof’s S3 and X3 E-bikes, plus you can also use it to track more personal items such as keys and bags. All you need to do is attach and activate an Apple AirTag ($45) or Chipolo ONE Spot ($44) to each one, then select the items tab in the Find My app to locate each object you’ve added a tag to. If you own an iPhone equipped…

Every now and then in this column we like to check in on major home networking apps. openmediavault (OMV, www. openmediavault.org) has been a long-time favourite of many users, and we thought we’d check in on it this month and give you an overview of what it does and why it’s worth checking out. At its core, OMV is a user-friendly open-source network attached storage (NAS) solution, built especially with home users in mind, but also capable of supporting plugins and additional services. That puts it in a league with the likes of TrueNAS, Amahi, and Rockstor, though we daresay it’s not nearly as expandable or flexible as those other solutions, having a limited number of plugins available. But it is quite easy to use and set up, which makes…

Within the Neural Filter command you’ll find a range of beta filters (click the test tube icon to access them). These encompass all sorts of effects, from adding colours to old photos (Colorise) to tinting backdrops (Depth-Aware Haze). One of the most interesting Neural Filters is Smart Portrait. Like Skin Smoothing, it is able to recognise faces in your portraits, but its controls are more ambitious. You can add smiles, age or de-age a face, alter the direction of a gaze and shift a head position. Results are mixed (which is why the filter is still in beta mode), but it’s worth exploring.…

$1,999, www.samsung.com Even though the Samsung HW-Q950A stretches the definition of soundbar to the max by actually comprising four separate bits of kit, there’s nothing about its appearance that prepares you for the scale of sound it delivers. The main soundbar is more than a metre wide, but slim enough to tuck under the screen of most of today’s TVs. The rears are heavy but sufficiently compact to easily fit on a bookshelf, and despite carrying an unusually large 8-inch driver, the subwoofer has a slim-enough profile to hide down the side of a sofa or under a sideboard. Design and features The HW-Q950A soundbar is much more than just a soundbar. Yes, it takes the usual form of a long, slim speaker designed to sit under your TV screen.…

Following a failed first attempt, NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully drilled and captured a perfect rock core from the Red Planet. This takes scientists a step closer to their goal of someday returning the rock sample to Earth in order to study it for signs of ancient microbial life. Perseverance made its latest drill attempt on 1 September after selecting a large, thick-looking rock that NASA researchers nicknamed ‘Rochette’. The boulder sits on a ridge overlooking the nearby floor of Jezero crater, where it has endured the elements of Mars for potentially millions of years. That endurance is exactly what the team was looking for; the rover’s first attempt to collect a rock core several weeks ago ended in disappointment, as the rock sample proved too crumbly and slipped from…

Guru has long bounced off the whole smart home thing, despite acting as smart home correspondent for a number of reputable publications in the past, but a light has turned itself on within him: that stuff you’re doing with Alexa and Wi-Fi? It’s not a smart home. It’s a smart Barbie Dreamhouse. It’s a dumb home. It is simply the cloying cream on top of a delicious bottle of smart milk. To do smart home right, you need to roll up your sleeves. “That stuff you’re doing with Alexa and Wi-Fi? It’s not a smart home. It’s a smart Barbie Dreamhouse. It’s a dumb home. It is simply the cloying cream on top of a delicious bottle of smart milk.” This means, unfortunately for you, a period of learning, during…

“The tester ran Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Doom, Cyberpunk 2077, and DOTA 2 through the Steam Deck, at a variety of settings, and each one of these graphically intensive games is totally playable with some tweaking.” The dev kits for the Valve Steam Deck are out in the wild and that means leaks are surely going to start coming thick and fast. In fact I’m maybe a little surprised it’s taken this long for gaming performance figures to filter out, but we’re now getting our first taste of how the Deck runs a few modern games. And now I wish I’d paid my $5 to get an early reservation. The report comes from a user in China (via Tom’s Hardware) with access to a development kit, and they do…

$79, pre-deathloop.life PlayStation, PC Arkane sets its worlds apart by targeting coherence. It’s exciting then to see the studio try something different with Deathloop. Blackreef might be Arkane’s most artificial world yet. Your main point of interaction with its patchwork of spaces is through the barrels of some beautifully rendered weaponry. What we have in Blackreef is four creative, finely-crafted sets – each dressed to be seen during four periods of a single day – that are both self-contained and persistently tracking progress in what will at times feel like an impossible task: to assassinate eight targets in a single day, or die trying. And you’re going to die. And I promise that you’re going to enjoy it. Dying is an opportunity to learn something new. About the layout of…

The best that can be said in most cases is that the Pulse GL66, as reviewed, is a good bit cheaper than some of its competitors, and somewhat cheaper than most. $2,499, www.msi.com The MSI Pulse GL66 is an excellent mid-range gaming laptop so long as you don’t take it anywhere and value doesn’t mean anything to you. Unfortunately, some things drag the MSI Pulse GL66 down considerably, most notably its battery life. The Pulse GL66 barely cracks three hours while simply playing a looped Blu-Ray. This was typical a couple of years ago, but not in 2021. This is not a gaming laptop that you can game on away from a wall outlet, so it’s really a desktop replacement for those who don’t have a ton of money to…

$529, shop.boox.com All hail colour E Ink! Its mono incarnation may have been popularised by the original Kindle devices, but Amazon is yet to sell its icon of electronic paper in a form that shows any kind of colour. Cue the Boox Nova 3 Color from Chinese company Onyx. Colour is a long overdue feature, but it comes with a few pros and cons. There’s a lot more to the Boox Nova 3 Color than 4,096 shades of color. It’s got an open Android 10 operating system, it’s compatible with loads of apps from the Google Play Store (including Amazon’s Kindle app), and it has an enviable ability to open almost any file. It also comes with a Wacom stylus for annotating, writing and sketching. Coupled with a large 7.8-inch…

$1,249, buy.garmin.com The Garmin Enduro isn’t a small watch, and has more in common with Garmin’s Fenix than its more diminutive Forerunner in terms of stature. It features a 51mm polymer case that comes in either stainless steel or DLC coated titanium bezels with the latter offering a bezel that’s 10g lighter than the steel version. It’s certainly a big watch to wear, and the stainless steel version definitely feels noticeably heavier than the titanium one while wearing them day-to-day and for long running and other outdoor exercise sessions. That case is combined with a black UltraFit nylon strap. This is a new look for Garmin, which usually bundles a silicone band with most of its watches, and helps to keep the overall weight of the watch down. Packed into…

$329, www.elegoo.com Many of us wouldn’t necessarily think of 3D printing as an affordable hobby, especially if you’re looking to explore resin-based SLA and MSLA printers, but the Elegoo Mars 2 Pro proves you don’t need to spend a fortune to get a premium product. Affordability is relative of course, but you can currently grab the Elegoo Mars 2 Pro for $329, which is more than a fair price to pay for the quality that you’re getting, placing it in a similar price band as the AnyCubic Photon Mono. The Mars 2 Pro has a slighter larger build volume than that of the original Mars 2 printer, and a metal resin vat rather than the replaceable plastic version. Other differences outside of cost is the inclusion of an air filtration…

Some PC users are a paranoid bunch and they don’t welcome surveillance in any form – whether it’s Google’s trackers that are strewn across the web, or individual webmasters checking their access logs for IP addresses and then nuking your router with a Low Orbit Ion Cannon when you leave a nasty comment on their wine-tasting blog. A virtual private network disguises your IP address by routing your traffic through a remote network. You can spoof your location and pretend to be in Russia, the US, Jamaica, or wherever your VPN provider keeps its servers – meaning that your dismissal of the Taittinger ‘43 as a drink for geriatric poseurs will go unpunished. If you’re serious about privacy, and you don’t want other people knowing what you’re watching and downloading,…

Portraits and landscapes are common subjects for a photo, but it can be a challenge to capture decent pictures of these subjects. When we view a snap of a landscape it is often disappointing as it rarely matches up to our memory of the scene. This can be because our peripheral vision takes in a wider field of view than the iPhone’s lens, especially in a narrow 4:3-shaped photo. To capture more of a landscape you can set the Camera app to the Pano shooting mode. This enables you to pan the iPhone left to right (or right to left by tapping the arrow icon) to include more of the landscape. As you pan, the Camera app stitches the video feed together to produce a wider panoramic image. However, the…

1 Set f-stop Tap to select Portrait mode. Tap the f-stop icon to dial in an aperture value. The lower the number, the blurrier the bokeh will be. Here we’ve gone for f8.0. By default we’re using the Natural Light preset. Take the shot. 2 Adjust blur In Photos tap Edit. Tap the f-stop icon. Drag the aperture slider to a larger number (such as f16) to reveal more background detail. Drag it to a smaller number for more blur. The 12 Pro Max can open to a wide f1.4. 3 Adjust lighting Tap the hexagonal icon to access the Lighting Effects wheel. Drag to experiment with different studio effects such as the face-modelling Contour Light. Here we’ve gone for Studio Light to brighten the face.…

If you can’t get to your Mac don’t worry. There are plenty of ways to edit and share your photos and video clips with friends, family and followers directly from your iPhone. Select a photo (or video clip) then tap Edit. Here you have a suite of digital darkroom tools to help you tweak color, tone and composition in a few taps. We’ll cover iOS editing techniques in more detail on the following page. Once you’re happy with the look of your still or clip tap Done. Tap the Share icon at the bottom-left. You can then tap to send the image to contacts via SMS or email. You can also tap a social media app’s icon, compose a post and share the shot. If a friend is close to…

While you can perform edits on your iPhone’s version of Photos, the Photos app for Mac gives you greater control due to a more powerful set of tools (such as the Retouch tool for removing unwanted objects). You can also check the quality of a shot more effectively when viewing it on your Mac’s larger display (especially if you need to smooth out noise caused by a high ISO speed, for example). One way to get iPhone-sourced videos and stills onto your Mac is to automatically upload them to your iCloud account. They will then be ready to edit and share in the Photos app on any iCloud connected device such as an iMac or an iPad. To set up iCloud syncing go to your iPhone’s Settings, then scroll down…

If you’ve ever entered text using an Xbox One controller or on a smartphone’s small screen, you’ll know the joy of text suggestions: they’re a kind of super-powered assistance that tries to guess what you’re typing as you type it. For example if we typed “Wi” there’s a pretty good chance that the word we’re going for is ‘Windows’; with text suggestions we could type “Wi” and then select ‘Windows’ from the list. It turns out that text suggestions are just as effective on fully-featured PCs as they are on Xboxes and touchscreen tablets. Unless you type with 100% accuracy at a million words per minute, we think you’ll find typing suggestions enormously helpful – so in this tutorial we’ll show you how to enable them, how to use them…

The clipboard is one notable part of any operating system that keeps missing out on some love and attention. This brilliant time-saving tool has one fundamental flaw: it can only remember the last item you copied to it. Thankfully, there’s a cottage industry of clipboard enhancement tools, and one of our favourites has to be CopyQ. It enables you to store multiple clipboard entries comprising plain text, rich text, HTML snippets and images, organised as you see fit into tabs, and editable via its own built-in editor. These clips can then easily be pasted into any compatible document as you see fit. As always, you’ll find CopyQ available from the Ubuntu Software Centre, but it’s a frozen version (3.10.0 in Ubuntu 20.04 for example). Instead, ensure you have the latest…

As noted above, OMV actually works well on a Raspberry Pi, though we would recommend using a Raspberry Pi 4 with 2GB of memory or more. What’s more, it’s very easy to install since it runs on the official Raspberry Pi OS (www.raspberrypi.org/software/)which is also Debian-based. That means if you have Raspberry Pi OS installed on your SD Card, you don’t need to use a flash drive or any other trickery. You can just use the Debian package manager and you’re good to go. Assuming you have Raspberry Pi OS installed (see the link above if you don’t), you just need to either connect a keyboard and monitor to your Pi; or you can secure shell (ssh) into it remotely by going to a command prompt (type cmd in the…

Oswalds Mill Audio K3 Turntable US$200,000+ | oswaldsmill audio.com How many turntables do you know of that come with their own white paper? The K3 Turntable is the result of seven years of development and uses a 14kg platter, operated by a motor constructed from parts found in US anti-ballistic missile technology and deep space telescopes. This apparatus is bolted onto an extremely heavy cast iron plinth and includes a crane-like iron girder tonearm with liquid internal chambers that offers accuracy ‘to molecular tolerances’. The device also comes with a tube-rectified AC-to-DC power converter and if you want to splurge even more you can hook it up to one of the company’s ridiculous wooden loudspeakers for another US$280,000. Ray-Ban Stories $449 | .ray-ban.com/australia/discover-ray-ban-stories/clpIf you’re one of those people who has…

$3,499, www.dell.com If we’ve learned anything about the best ultrabooks over the past few months, it’s that it’s hard to pass up something reliable with a nice screen. If you’re going to be looking at it all day (and sometimes into the night), a quality display is important. The Dell XPS 15 (9510) is the company’s latest revision of a semi-professional favorite. Perhaps the biggest change here, other than the latest Intel and Nvidia components, is the addition of an OLED screen. It starts at $2,999 with an 11th Gen Intel Core i5 and integrated graphics, while we tested it at $3,499 with a Core i7 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti. The XPS 15 still retains some professional trappings, including a full-sized SD card reader, but still hasn’t…

$599.95 (inc.1y GoPro sub) | gopro.com/en/au/ While it might seem like the prolific action camera company would have scaled back operations through a lockdown-stricken 2021, GoPro seems to be pushing on with annual releases of its Hero cameras. The latest, the GoPro Hero 10 Black, is definitely a little less of a transformation than what we’re used to seeing, but there’s a few key areas that are likely to appeal to avid users. The high resolution and high refresh rates will please the pros, but HyperSmooth 4.0 is another step forward on GoPro’s already amazing digital stabilisation and this feature is indispensable for amateurs and hobbyists who have to mount cameras directly on their body or other unstable camera surfaces. Usability seems to be top of mind for the company…

Bungie has founded a dedicated accessibility initiative to oversee work that will make Destiny 2 and its future games more accessible. The studio outlined its ambitions for Accessibility at Bungie, a new internal Inclusion Club, in a recent blog post. “Its mission is to educate everyone in the company on identifying barriers, to improve workplace accessibility, to make material improvements to the playability of Bungie’s games, and to partner with organisations within the gaming industry who are dedicated to game accessibility,” it explains. Player support specialist Drew Tucker will help lead the studio’s accessibility push. He’s joined by designer Jonathan Barbeau, senior designer Robert Schuster, and other members of Bungie and the Destiny 2 team. “In my time here, I’ve seen a lot of players describe mental health issues they…

$69, www.ea.com, Xbox, PlayStation, PC, Switch When FIFA 22 cover star Kylian Mbappe cannoned a penalty against the outstretched right palm of Yann Sommer back in June, condemning France to a shock round-of-16 Euro 2020 exit, it was widely viewed as part of football’s rich tapestry. Proof that even the world’s best players are human. Yet had the same event occurred during a FUT Champions weekend – a 91-rated striker seeing his decisive spot-kick blocked by a 85-rated keeper – most FIFA veterans would decry it as ‘scripted’ or ‘death of skill gap’ or ‘RNG bullshit’. Therein lies the challenge of developing a modern sports game. Realism is only welcomed when it generates positive outcomes. This puts the latest edition of EA’s footballing juggernaut in a curious place. I’m finding…

Pokémon UNITE PIKA-MOBA. Free with IAP Pokémon is arguably a force of nature in the gaming landscape – countless games across a wide range of consoles, as well as the most popular mobile game in the world with Pokémon GO. UNITE is a new spin on the traditional formula, taking Pokémon out of the hands of individual battles and placing them into a giant MOBA Arena where they battle it out in real-time. In essence, UNITE is a simpler version of the traditional League of Legends style experience – players don’t have to worry about money or items as they play through the match, instead, they fight AI-controlled Pokémon on the field to collect balls that are used to throw through hoops on the enemy’s map space. Each player still…

$1,199, www.ergotron.com Remaining seated at your desk all day has been shown to have negative effects on your health whether you’re working from home or have already returned to the office. This is why many have turned to standing desks, which allow them to work from a seated position and then quickly raise their desk to a standing position at a moment’s notice. Founded in 1982 by Harry Sweere, Ergotron created some of the first ergonomic tilt stands, mounting arms and desk stands. In addition to designing computer workstations based on ergonomic principles and scientific anthropometric data for more than 20 years, Sweere has also written several academic papers on ergonomics. From the company’s name alone, it’s clear that ergonomics plays a big role in all of Ergotron’s products. Design…

$139 (500GB), $235 (1TB), $469 (2TB) https://shop.westerndigital.com If you consider yourself a ‘serious gamer’, it’s highly likely that you’re currently working through a massive library of games – and that can take up a great deal of storage space. That can be particularly frustrating for Xbox and PlayStation owners, who’re stuck with the limited amount of storage their consoles came with. The new WD_Black D30 Portable SSD aims to alleviate that somewhat with its large storage space and fast transfer speeds, though gamers should know that there are limits to what this solid state drive is capable of. For starters, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S gamers will only be able to launch last-gen games from the WD_Black D30, meaning you can’t launch the latest current-gen titles from it, only store…

$299, www.amazfit.com The Amazfit Powerbuds Pro look quite different to the original Powerbuds, with a design that takes a lot of cues from Apple’s Airpods. The buds are white, with short stems, and are supplied in a smart flip-top charging case. Unfortunately there’s still no wireless charging – instead the case has a USB-C port and is supplied with a USB-A to USB-C cable. You also get four different sized silicone tips to choose from. so you can pick a pair that fit comfortably and snugly, though we found the Powerbuds Pro did occasionally feel a little loose while running hard. Unlike the original Powerbuds, the Powerbuds Pro don’t come with optional over-ear hooks to keep them secure during workouts, which is a shame and makes them a little less…

Low-light locations can be a challenge for photographers. The built-in flash only has a short range and tends to create washed-out foreground subjects against jet-black backgrounds. The 12 Pro’s LiDAR scanner helps the camera focus in low light without having to zap a blast of flash on your subject. Flash photography is often forbidden in locations such as museums and churches. Fortunately the 12 Pro’s Wide lens can open the aperture to f/1.6, which lets in more light than its other lenses. By letting in more light a lower ISO speed will be required to expose the subject, resulting in less noisy (grainy) images. 11 and 12 Pro iPhones can automatically activate Night mode in low-light locations. This causes the camera app to use a slower shutter speed, again letting…

MAGNETIC WIRELESS POWER BANK 2.5K $79.95, belkin.com It’s annoying to run out of battery power when on a shoot, which is more likely if you’re shooting HDR Dolby Vision video. This MagSafe wireless charger will boost the iPhone 12 (and 12 Pro’s) battery and is designed to keep clear of your iPhone’s lenses. DJI OM 4 $239, dji.com This gimbal enables smooth handheld camera moves (which is useful for older iPhones that don’t stabilise the footage in-camera like the 12 Pro does.) It also comes with a stand and a free app that enables the gimbal to track your moves like a virtual camera operator or perform panning and tilting time-lapses. MANFROTTO MINI TRIPOD WITH CLAMP $44.95, manfrotto.com This tripod and clamp helps you…

1 Go Live In the Camera app’s Photo mode tap the Live icon to activate Live Photo. Hold the iPhone steady and tap the shutter button to record a three-second clip of a moving object such as a train. Snap a couple of shots to be sure. 2 Choose effect In the iOS Photos app tap Albums. Swipe down to media Types and tap on Live Photos. Tap to view your shot. Swipe up to view Effects such as Loop and Bounce. Swipe left then tap on the Long Exposure effect. 3 Motion blur After applying the Long Exposure effect swipe up to see the edited image. Only the moving subject (such as a train) should appear motion-blurred. Static objects like the background should remain nice and sharp.…

1 Favourites The fastest way to sort the wheat from the chaff is to tap the heart-shaped Favourite icon. You can do this in the iPhone or Mac version of Photos. Click on the Favourites category to display all favourited files. 2 Albums Photos mimics the traditional way of storing photos by enabling you to place them in albums. Choose File > New Album. Name the album. You can then drag relevant photos to the album in the My Albums panel. 3 Get smart Choose File > New Smart Album. Label the album. From the drop down choose a property for Photos to look for (such as Keyword or Camera Model). Photos will automatically gather shots that meet your criteria. 4 Making memories Photos automatically gathers some images into collections…

1 High contrast In a high-contrast scene that lacks shadow and highlight detail, use the Brilliance slider to simultaneously lighten shadows and darken highlights. Fine-tune Shadows and Highlights independently to claw back detail. 2 Composition To tackle a tilted horizon, click Crop. Drag the rotate wheel to counteract the tilt. A grid will appear to help you get a straight horizon. Select a value in the Aspect panel to crop your shot to a common print size and shape. 3 Colour casts In mixed lighting some skin tones can look too cold (blue) or warm (orange). In the White Balance panel set the drop down to Skin Tone. Click the eyedropper on skin to automatically counteract cold or warm casts. 4 Noise reduction In low light the iPhone may use…

1 Sonos Roam $299 sonos.com > Not much bigger than a can of drink, the Roam takes Sonos’ famous high-fidelity wireless music expertise and transfers it to the great outdoors. It’s waterproof, lasts up to 10 hours on a charge, and supports multiple wireless protocols. At home it integrates with your wired Sonos system. SPECS DRIVERS 2 (tweeter, mid-woofer) CPU Quad Core A-53 MEMORY 1GB SDRAM, 4GB NV BATTERY LIFE Up to 10 hours CONNECTIVITY USB-C, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, AirPlay 2 VOICE ASSISTANT Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant WEATHERPROOFING IP67 DIMENSIONS 168x62x60mm WEIGHT 0.43kg 2 B&O Beosound Explore $350 bang-olufsen.com > One glance at the Beosound Explore from B&O tells you this is a portable speaker built to survive the elements. Its compact size and ridged exterior mean it’s easy…

PC won’t stay off I’ve built around 30 PCs over the past 20 years but have never seen this before. I recently built a new PC with Windows 10 Pro and all updates installed. My build: Gigabyte x570 PRO WIFI, Ryzen 5 5600X, 32GB RAM, 2TB MP600 NVMe SSD, RTX 3070 graphics, and EVGA BR600W PSU. If I click “Start > Power > Shut down” the computer simply restarts. I’ve searched online, tried everything in Windows, including turning Fast Boot off, but nothing works. The only way to switch off my PC is to hold the power button for a few seconds for a forced shutdown. Obviously, I’d really like to resolve this problem and be able to do a Windows shutdown the normal way. Any help would be great.…

Emoji – those little smiley faces and other symbols used to express feelings and ideas in text messages and social media posts – have become part of modern language. While some people find emoji a little silly, most have fully embraced them, and use them to add emotion and a little pizzazz to what they write. But there is no need to limit your use of emoji to the likes of Facebook and messaging apps. You can use Windows 10’s emoji keyboard to add them to just about any application without copying and pasting. Microsoft hardly advertises the feature, but once you’ve tried it out, you’ll fall in love with it and start using it more than you might think. To gain access to the emoji keyboard, you just need…

Last month we talked about some of the threats and issues that holders of cryptocurrency face. The best way to store keys to coins and tokens is a huge source of stress for many people, and there is no perfectly secure or guaranteed method of doing so. For many crypto enthusiasts, however, the best all-round option is the hardware wallet. At a fundamental level, a hardware wallet is basically a secure flash drive or USB key that stores the private cryptographic keys for spending your crypto. If you properly set them up, nobody without access to the physical wallet will be able to transfer your cryptocurrency, making it much safer than an exchange (which have been hacked in the past) or a software wallet (which is vulnerable to hacks and…

It’s very easy to have a collection of downloaded YouTube videos to play whenever you want to. While YouTube Premium allows the user to download a video for offline viewing, free methods are also available that let you watch or listen to them without using the official application. Downloading YouTube videos is ideal for keeping yourself entertained on planes, trains, and work commutes when there’s no internet access available nearby. It’s a great solution if you have a mobile plan with a limited data allowance, letting you enjoy your favorite content on the move without risking going over your data allowance. Is downloading YouTube videos legal? Using third-party apps to download YouTube videos is against YouTube’s terms of service – which state that you are only able to stream videos…

The Skin Smoothing Filter is part of Adobe’s Neural Filters command: a range of new filters that employ artificial intelligence to analyse image content and determine which areas to affect. Skin Smoothing can automatically recognise people and faces in your photos, isolate the skin and let you apply a softening effect. Pimples, spots, wrinkles, eye bags and rough skin can all be de-emphasised within a few clicks. “Neural Filters are part of a bold new direction for Photoshop, as Adobe embraces AI. They won’t be perfect every time, but they usually get you most of the way there.” Even a model with great skin like this can benefit from some subtle smoothing. Skin Smoothing gives better results than many other smoothing techniques, as it lets you smooth out tones while…