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02.05.2025 19:40 In 2023, I tested my first OLED gaming monitor for Engadget, the LG 27GR95QE. Coming from an IPS LCD, the LG screen was transformational. Its WOLED panel produced inky blacks that made every game look incredible, and it allowed me to experience HDR gaming on a PC for the first time. But as amazing as that monitor was, it was a first generation product and it had a couple of problems. It produced text fringing that made it distracting to use for productivity tasks, and it would flicker whenever I enabled NVIDIA's G-Sync smoothing. I ended up recommending the LG 27GR95QE with a few caveats in my first gaming monitor guide, but anytime in the last two years that I've considered buying an OLED for myself I've held off. The panels have gotten better, but if I'm going to spend $800 or more on a new monitor, it better be perfect or at least close to it. I think I've finally found the OLED monitor I would recommend without reservation, and I'd even buy it for myself. As long as you own a GPU that can drive it, Alienware's new AW2725Q is an exceptional gaming display. With a 4K resolution and 240Hz refresh rate, it's fast, sharp and delivers nearly flawless image quality across both SDR and HDR applications. Oh, and did I mention it's substantially cheaper than the competition? If you're in the market for a high-end gaming monitor, this is the one to buy. Design Igor Bonifacic for Engadget The AW2725Q marks the debut of Dell's new AW30 design language for Alienware products. It's been a while since I've seen one of the company's devices in person, and I was worried the monitor would look gaudy on my desk. Thankfully, the AW2725Q is not that; in fact, it has one of the more understated designs I've come across. Dell offers the AW2725Q in a single color: Interstellar Indigo. It’s a subtle hue that's more interesting than the usual black you see on so many competitors. The monitor also has minimal Alienware branding. On the back of the display, there's the company's trademark alien logo, while on the front you'll find its badge. The logo lights up. You can change the color of the LED or turn it off from the on-screen display menu. Like most Dell monitors, the AW2725Q offers plenty of ports. To start, it comes with two HDMI 2.1 connections. One of them supports eARC, so you can connect the monitor to a soundbar and a PS5 or Xbox Series X/S. It also has three USB-A ports and a single USB-C connection capable of 15W power delivery. The AW2725Q has the same flat Samsung-made QD-OLED panel as the $1,200 ASUS PG27UCDM and the $1,100 MSI 272URX. Dell cut a few features to get its monitor to $900. First, it's missing a DisplayPort 2.1 output, meaning it's limited to the older 1.4 standard. As a result, the AW2725Q needs to rely on Display Stream Compression to output a 4K signal at 240Hz. On paper and in practice, that's not much of a reason to skip over Alienware's monitor. As the name suggests, DSC is a compression algorithm. It's not technically lossless, but it is "visually lossless," and unless you pixel peep, it's difficult to notice a difference between a DSC signal and an uncompressed one over DisplayPort 2.1. Besides, you'll need one of NVIDIA or AMD’s latest GPUs to take advantage of the new standard anyway. The AW2725Q's other compromises are more notable. The MSI and ASUS models offer faster 98W and 90W power delivery over their USB-C ports, making them better for charging a laptop quickly. The ASUS monitor also comes with a KVM switch, in case you want to use a single keyboard and mouse to control more than one computer. Those are all nice to have, but not features I would pay an extra $200 or $300 to get on a new monitor, especially one I plan to use primarily for gaming. Display Igor Bonifacic for Engadget Although I've seen more than a few OLED monitors in the past, the AW2725Q was immediately impressive. As I mentioned earlier, it features a QD-OLED panel made by Samsung, and this specific model marks the first time that company has offered a 4K resolution on a 27-inch panel. That might seem like overkill, and in a way it is. That said, there's one major benefit to the AW2725Q's 166ppi pixel density. This is the first OLED monitor I've used that doesn't sacrifice text clarity. With earlier generations of OLED panels from both Samsung and LG, I found the text fringing really distracting, making them impractical for most productivity tasks. With the AW2725Q, that problem is almost entirely solved, making it not just a great gaming monitor, but a great monitor period. The AW2725Q offers 99 percent DCI-P3 coverage. Out of the box, my unit needed some calibration, as the green diodes were slightly overpowering everything else. Once I ran the monitor through DisplayCal, the AW2725Q looked nearly perfect. Colors were vibrant without being overbaked. If you want to use the AW2725Q for design work, Dell includes an option to clamp down the display to sRGB in the OSD. Speaking of the OSD, it's well laid out and easy to navigate thanks to a joystick that's just big enough not to feel fiddly. Igor Bonifacic for Engadget The AW2725Q has a glossy coating that accentuates the panel's ability to produce deep blacks and vibrant colors. In a dimly lit room, the Alienware monitor outputs an image that's almost three-dimensional. When I went to revisit older games, even ones that were mastered in SDR, I felt like I was seeing artistic details I hadn't noticed before. Of course, the tradeoff with a glossy coating is that reflections are far more pronounced. Additionally, one of the quirks of QD-OLED panels is that their black pixels can look gray in rooms with bright ambient light. At first I found this frustrating, but once I got better about using my blinds to manage the light coming through the window, the tradeoff was more than worth it. In that way, the AW2725Q is like any OLED screen: it needs proper lighting to look its best. Once I had the screen dialed in, the AW2725Q was equally great for both immersive and competitive gaming, thanks in part to its 240Hz refresh rate. Coming from a 165Hz monitor, I didn't think the faster refresh rate would make games feel noticeably smoother, but I was wrong. Even when my NVIDIA RTX 3070 GPU wasn't able to saturate the display fully, in games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Space Marine 2 for example, I didn't see any blur or smearing. Much of that is thanks to the 0.03ms pixel response time. One of the nice things about OLED monitors, especially if you're running a less powerful GPU like I am, is that you don't need to worry about overdrive modes. I saw VRR flicker when I had G-SYNC enabled, but it seemed less pronounced than what I've seen on older OLED monitors like the LG 27GR95QE. Igor Bonifacic for Engadget Everything I mentioned so far applies to SDR gaming, but the AW2725Q really comes into its own when you enable HDR. It's a VESA True Black 400-certified display. In dark, atmospheric games like Dead Space and Alan Wake, the AW2725Q's ability to produce true blacks and a near-infinite contrast ratio is transformational. The screen greatly enhances the ambience those games strive to achieve, thanks to dark scenes that aren't washed out by the glow you get on IPS displays. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment needed to measure peak brightness and panel uniformity. The reviewers at Rtings and Monitors Unboxed do rate the AW2725Q highly, though. They found the monitor can peak at 220 nits in its SDR mode, and sustain around 260 nits of peak brightness across a full screen during HDR operation. If you're coming from an LCD display, I imagine the AW2725Q won't disappoint, even if it doesn't get as bright as some other OLEDs on the market. Burn-in protection A few weeks is not long enough to stress the AW2725Q for burn-in, but from what I've seen so far, with decent care, the panel should last for years. First of all, the monitor comes with a suite of maintenance features. One of those will refresh all the pixels on the panel so they don't get stuck. You can start the process manually through the OSD. The AW2725Q will also initiate the process on its own after you turn off your computer or it goes to sleep. The entire procedure takes about five minutes. There are also self-diagnostic tools for the panel and fan at the back of the display. In the US, Dell offers a three-year warranty on the AW2725Q, with burn-in protection included in the coverage. Not every manufacturer does this with their OLED monitors, so the fact Dell does is nice and makes the AW2725Q a smarter long-term purchase. Wrap-up Igor Bonifacic for Engadget Normally, when I review a product, I can't wait to get back to the device I was using before. I try to be thoughtful about my buying habits, and only purchase things I know will serve me well for years to come. So the best thing I can say about the Alienware AW2725Q is that I'm not looking forward to sending it back. It is an amazing display that has made one of my favorite hobbies more enjoyable. The fact it costs $900 is icing on the cake. Yes, it's still more expensive than your average IPS gaming monitor, but it's cheaper than the competition without sacrificing visual quality. If you're in the market for a 4K OLED, I would only skip the AW2725Q if you have the desk space to accommodate a 32-inch screen and you prefer that size.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/alienware-aw2725q-review-an-exceptional-oled-gaming-display-120046049.html?src=rss

02.05.2025 14:01 This week Meta held its first-ever AI dev conference, LlamaCon, focused on the development of its Llama generative AI model. But while there was plenty of hype, not much happened, besides the launch of the Meta AI app and a new Llama API. In this episode, Engadget Senior Reporter Karissa Bell joins us to talk about her thoughts on LlamaCon after attending in person. After just announcing its latest Llama models a few weeks ago, it was as if Meta didn't have much else to say. Subscribe! iTunes Spotify Pocket Casts Stitcher Google Podcasts Topics Meta’s Muted LlamaCon: who was the AI dev conference really for? – 1:31 Court orders Apple to stop collecting app fees outside of the iTunes store – 21:44 Microsoft announces Xbox series X and S prices are going up – 25:22 NPR report: DOGE employees may have access to U.S. nuclear secrets – 26:44 New EV startup Slate to offer a barebones pickup for $20k – 30:47 Swiss academics use AI to influence public opinion on Reddit – 35:08 Duolingo to replace contract workers with AI – 40:19 Working on – 47:50 Pop culture picks – 50:56 Credits Hosts: Devindra Hardawar and Karissa BellProducer: Ben EllmanMusic: Dale North and Terrence O'Brien This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/engadget-podcast-metas-first-llamacon-was-kind-of-a-bust-113008156.html?src=rss

02.05.2025 14:01 Microsoft is dramatically increasing the price of the Xbox Series X and Series S as well as new games and accessories. The Series S will start at $380, up from $300, while the Series X will begin at $550, a $100 increase on its previous price. The company is also increasing the prices of pretty much all its first-party products and peripherals. A basic controller will now cost $65. Microsoft is also increasing pricing in Europe, UK, Australia and many other countries. Microsoft, however, isn’t pointing the finger at tariffs: “We understand that these changes are challenging, and they were made with careful consideration given market conditions and the rising cost of development,” the company said. It’s unusual for a mid-generation console to increase in price — typically, companies launch a slightly more expensive, better-specced iteration instead. Also this week, Samsung’s chief financial officer Soon-cheol Park told reporters “The ongoing uncertainty surrounding US tariff policies continues to pose a potential risk of demand slowdown.” Park said US tariff policies and stronger export controls against artificial intelligence products are expected to have an impact on demand. In addition to a downward trend on sales, the company also expects tariffs to raise prices for the components it uses on its mobile phones — so expect more expensive smartphones down the line. The recent addition to upward pricing is DJI’s popular Ozmo Pocket 3 vlogging camera. Up from a launch price of $520, it’s gone way up to $799. The base camera is now more expensive than the Creator Kit available at launch. — Mat Smith Get Engadget's newsletter delivered direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here! The biggest stories you might have missed Apple sends spyware warnings to iPhone users in 100 countries Rivian R1S Gen 2 review: The rugged foundation of Rivian’s electric empire VR is helping to make daunting medical treatments more bearable for patients The best way to compost your food scraps The BBC used AI to bring Agatha Christie back to life With approval from her estate. BBC BBC Maestro offers classes and courses similar to Masterclass, but with a British twist. Its latest tutor, however, died in 1976. Agatha Christie has been digitally revived to teach us all how to write murder mysteries with no reference to smartphones and the internet. A blend of licensed images, limited footage and past audio recordings converged to create Christie’s likeness. This was fused with recorded footage of actor Vivien Keene, who ‘performs’ the words of Christie on video. I got to briefly watch some of the lessons. There’s still a glint of uncanny valley, of course, , but even BBC Maestro CEO Michael Levine noted that since the project’s inception a few years ago, the technology had evolved so quickly that the team was able to do even more than it first thought possible. Continue reading. Canon Powershot V1 camera review A powerful compact capable of capturing incredible video. Engadget Canon’s PowerShot V1 is a versatile hybrid camera with excellent video and image quality thanks to the unusually large sensor. It goes up against Sony’s ZV-1 II and beats it in multiple ways, including a built-in fan to minimize overheating. It’s also capable of 10-bit log 4K video for those willing to dig into higher-quality footage. The PowerShot V1 is bound to be a hit because it delivers both on video and photo quality. Continue reading. Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning ID technology debuts in the US World is opening six locations across the country. A startup co-founded by Sam Altman has launched its World eyeball-scanning identity verification system in the US. During an event in San Francisco, Altman reportedly said World’s technology provides “a way to make sure humans remained central and special in a world where the internet had a lot of AI-driven content.” Altman is also one of the founders and is currently the CEO of OpenAI, of Chat-GPT fame. The project uses basketball-sized spherical objects called Orbs to scan the user’s irises, which it turns into their unique IrisCode. It then uses that information to create a World ID for the user, which they can use to log into integrated platforms, including Minecraft and Reddit. Continue reading.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/general/the-morning-after-engadget-newsletter-111538265.html?src=rss

02.05.2025 03:50 Late last year, Reddit introduced its AI-powered search tool, Reddit Answers. Now, the company plans to make the feature even more prominent by adding it into Reddit’s main sitewide search, CEO Steve Huffman said during the company’s first-quarter earnings call. “We are now working to integrate it into Reddit core search experience to further streamline the path from question to answer on Reddit,” Huffman said. “Integrating into Reddit search means we want one search box. That'll be the primary search box, and you’ll type your query in there, you'll get, potentially, your Answers, answer, or, you know, more of a traditional Reddit response, depending on what you're searching for.” Up to now, Reddit Answers, which is still labeled as being in “beta,” has lived in its own section of the service. The feature summarizes conversations from across Reddit in response to queries that users may otherwise seek out by adding “Reddit” to their searches on Google. Huffman said that Reddit Answers, which recently became available to all US Redditors, as well as a handful of international markets, already has 1 million weekly users. That’s only a small fraction of Reddit’s 401 million weekly users, but adding it into Reddit’s primary search box should give it a boost. Huffman said the change is part of a broader strategy to improve search across Reddit. Reddit Answers, he said, could help make the service more accessible to new users and guide people who come to the site via search engines. The change could also be somewhat controversial — Reddit users aren’t exactly known for loving big changes to the service — though Huffman acknowledged users may not always want an AI-generated summary in response to every search. “Sometimes people will want the summarized, annotated, sterile answers from AI, and we're even building this ourselves in Reddit Answers,” Huffman said. “But other times they want the subjective, authentic, messy, multiple viewpoints that Reddit provides.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/reddit-will-integrate-ai-answers-into-its-main-search-bar-223907171.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01  Microsoft just increased all Xbox prices: Grab one before the hikes go into effect Microsoft Gaming is about to get a lot more expensive — at least for Xbox fans. Effective today, May 1, Microsoft is increasing the price of Xbox consoles and controllers, and not by an insignificant amount: The Xbox Series S 512GB, is now $380, more than a 25 percent increase from $300. The Xbox Series X 1TB Digital is now $550, a 22 percent increase from $450. The Xbox Series S 1TB is now $430, a 22 percent increase from $350). The Xbox Series X 1TB with Blu-ray is now $600, a 20 percent increase from $500. The Xbox Series X 2TB Galaxy Black Special Edition is now $730, a 22 percent increase from $600. The news doesn't end there. Controllers and headsets now start at $65 and top out at $200 for the "Full" Xbox Elite Wireless Controller Series 2. Games will also increase in price, though not right away: "Some of our new, first-party games will launch at $79.99 beginning this holiday season," Microsoft explains. That last one seems more about leaning in to Nintendo's ambitious Switch 2 game pricing, and less about any possible tariff impact But not all is negative, as if you're in the market for a new console, prices at online retailers have yet to catch up. Before you whip out your credit card, remember some key caveats here. The current Xbox platform is effectively five years old, with the leaked mid-gen "Brooklin" refresh seemingly canceled. An all-new Xbox generation is also expected to arrive in the next few years, perhaps 2028, with leaks suggesting it may be a "cloud hybrid" machine. And more and more previous Xbox exclusives are beginning to pop up on the PS5, too. That said, if you've been waiting to buy an Xbox, now is the time, as these legacy prices could disappear any minute. Best Xbox deals This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/microsoft-just-increased-all-xbox-prices-grab-one-before-the-hikes-go-into-effect-192628921.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 Lyft is rolling out a new service called Lyft Silver that's specifically designed to give aging and elderly people a way to get around when driving isn't an option. The basic pitch is that while getting rides from friends and family is great, it can limit the sense of independence an elderly person has. According to Audrey Liu, Lyft's head of Rider and Community Safety, the goal "wasn't just to build a service, but to remove everything that makes getting around a challenge." Lyft Silver will ideally help people "stay connected with their communities." Public transportation is already doing that for plenty of elderly people, but not everyone has access and Lyft is promising an extra level of security and support. Besides featuring a simpler interface, the new service adds access to live human support whenever you need it. Lyft Silver will also prioritize matching riders with cars that are easier to get in and out of, and make it easier to share ride details with loved ones. Lyft has offered features in the past that acknowledge elderly riders, but hasn't addressed them directly. The company's Concierge service lets a doctor's office order a ride for an elderly patient, for example. Lyft has also partnered with healthcare providers to offer paid rides to appointments. Lyft Silver just simplifies things even further by repackaging the basic ride-hailing experience for an older audience. Lyft says Lyft Silver will launch in early access "nationwide" on May 5. You'll be able to use the service directly from the normal Lyft app, and the company says families will be able to pay for their loved ones rides with Lyft Cash, the company's in-app payment method.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/lyft-silver-wants-to-keep-your-aging-parents-off-the-road-192617078.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 An electronic gadget might not be the “traditional” Mother’s Day gift, but just about every mom we know would prefer a cool new piece of tech over a short-lived bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates. A number of us on the Engadget staff collaborated to create this guide, filling it with the Mother’s Day presents we’ve received ourselves, have given to the moms in our lives, or have otherwise tested and can safely recommend as a welcome gift. Whether the mom in your life is into music, cooking, fitness or even a good night’s sleep, there’s bound to be a useful device or service here that they’ll enjoy. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gadgets-that-make-great-mothers-day-gifts-131533921.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 Epic Games just announced some changes to its store that should please budding developers. The company will not charge a commission of any kind for the first $1,000,000 in revenue from an app per year. Once a piece of software goes past that threshold, Epic will begin taking its standard rate of 12 percent. The policy goes into effect in June. This sounds like a real boon for smaller devs, especially when you consider that Steam takes 30 percent of sales as commission. Apple isn’t a direct competitor here, but the App Store takes 15 percent on the first million in revenue. This increases to 30 percent once that metric is met. Epic Games Store will take 0% on the first $1,000,000 of payments we process per game per year , and 12% after that .Next month, we launch EGS Webshops for out-of-app purchases, as an alternative to in-app purchases.https://t.co/yTufyZbiqR— Tim Sweeney May 1, 2025 Epic also announced something called webshops, which sounds like a way for developers to avoid Apple’s App Store fees. These shops are powered by the Epic Games Store and offer customers "out-of-app purchases, as a more cost-effective alternative to in-app purchases." These stores will be available next month "on any platform that allows it," though that now includes iOS devices in both the EU and the US. The company will begin offering a bonus of five percent in Epic Rewards to lure customers to these webshops. This will be applicable to all purchases, though the company hasn’t said if it's a limited time offer. Epic is able to do this whole webshop thing because it just won a case against long-time foe Apple. A California court just ordered Apple to stop collecting fees for purchases made outside of the App Store. August 2020: Fortnite leaves the iOS App Store.May 2025: Epic announces Fortnite will return to US iOS App Store.More at @thegamebusiness:https://t.co/7Z8EyzhokQ— Geoff Keighley May 1, 2025 The ruling also means that Fortnite is coming back to Apple devices in the US next week. Epic CEO Tim Sweeney has stated that the company would return the game to the App Store worldwide, so long as Apple extends the court’s ruling across all countries. The company will also drop all pending litigation on the topic. He’s calling it a "peace plan," but Apple has yet to respond.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/epic-games-takes-aim-at-apple-and-steam-with-zero-commission-policy-for-developers-183956940.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 If you’re struggling to come up with just the right gift for your mom, you’re not alone. Mothers can be particularly difficult to shop for, especially if your mom is like many we know who insist that they don’t want or need gifts. Short of giving them some time back in their day to do what they want to do instead of things they need to do, the gift ideas we collected below can help you show the mother figure in your life that you care and want to spoil them a bit even when they claim it’s not necessary — because they deserve it. Check out the rest of our gift ideas here. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-14-best-gifts-for-moms-130044717.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 If you've been eyeing the Google Pixel 9a, now's a good time to pounce. That's because you can get a $100 gift card for free when you buy the flagship-quality midrange phone. In Engadget's review, Sam Rutherford deemed it "the best value of any Android phone.” The $100 gift card bonus is live at Amazon, Best Buy and the Google Store. Each has pros and cons, but it makes the most sense to order from the retailer where you shop the most. The Pixel 9a is Google's entry point into the Pixel ecosystem. Its sub-flagship pricing masks a handset that, in many ways, rivals phones that cost twice as much. It has a 6.3-inch OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. We found it to be sharp, colorful and "one of the best displays in this price range.” It uses the same Tensor G4 processor found in the more expensive Pixel 9 brethren. The only performance compromise you'll find is its 8GB of RAM vs. the 12GB in the standard Pixel 9. That will only reveal itself if you're heavy into multitasking or gaming. Given the $300 price discrepancy between it and the Pixel 9, it's hard to nitpick much about that. Sam Rutherford for Engadget Google's Pixel lineup is known for its camera prowess, and the 9a is no exception. It pairs a 48MP main camera with a 13MP ultra-wide lens. Although there's no telephoto, it compensates with AI-based Super Res Zoom that can achieve up to 8x digital zoom. The phone also has Google's Night Sight feature for sharp, balanced low-light photography. We found that the camera outperforms the $1,299 Galaxy S25 Ultra in color accuracy, detail and low-light performance. It's also competitive with the S25U in ultra-wide shots. The latter edges it out there because of better color saturation. Still, we're talking about a $800 pricing discrepancy, so the fact that it's in the conversation is no small achievement. Sam Rutherford for Engadget The Pixel 9a's only drawbacks are its lower 8GB of RAM, slower charging speeds than flagships, its lack of optical zoom and its plastic backing . But for $499 — essentially $399 if you use that gift card forpurchases you'd make anyway — this is a nice deal for a nearly flagship Android handset that made our list of the best smartphones.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/get-the-google-pixel-9a-with-100-store-credit-at-amazon-best-buy-and-the-google-store-164530159.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 Pinterest is fighting back against the onslaught of AI slop that is increasingly clogging up its platform following complaints from users. From now on, you’ll be able to see when image Pins that appear in your feed have been either generated or modified using AI. When users click on an image Pin in close-up they’ll see an “AI modified” label in the bottom left-hand corner. In a blog post published this week, Pinterest says it has been testing the new feature for several months, which involves analysing the metadata of an image to assess its source. It says it’s also developing classifiers that can automatically detect the whiff of generative AI even when metadata markers are absent. How successful it is in doing so will become clear as the new features roll out globally, and creators who suspect their content has been mislabelled will be able to appeal. Such mislabelling has been an ongoing issue for Meta, which was forced to adjust the wording of the AI labels it applied to uploaded photos on Facebook and Instagram after photographers complained they were being added to images that hadn’t been created using AI. Apparently, even minimal use of the generative fill tool in Photoshop was enough to trigger a label. That’s something that Pinterest will likely want to look out for as it hones this new algorithm. In addition to the new labels, Pinterest says it’s experimenting with a feature that would allow users to filter out categories where AI modification or generation is particularly prevalent, such as beauty and art. By letting its users have more control over what appears on their feed, Pinterest is clearly hoping it can win back the growing number of disgruntled members in its community.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/pinterest-will-now-tell-you-when-youre-looking-at-ai-generated-content-163008812.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 Stanley Johnson is not a fan of needles. The 67-year-old Air Force veteran has endured his fair share of pokes over the years, but when it was decided that IV infusions would be the best course of action to treat his iron deficiency, going into that first session felt nerve-wracking. So he brought along what’s become a staple in his personal anxiety toolkit: his Apple Vision Pro. Johnson has taken to using the immersive wellness app, Tripp, to ease his anxiety, and he says it was a big help in getting through his treatments, especially in the beginning. The app offers a number of relaxation and mindfulness experiences for AR/VR headsets and mobile, from guided meditation to calming soundscapes and breathwork. “That first time, I was anxious,” Johnson said. “I’d do the breathing exercises to put my mind into what environment Tripp puts me in. Then I started watching movies.” When it comes to infusion therapy, the treatments can be long, the chairs uncomfortable and passing the time without a distraction is difficult. Watching a movie in the headset “instead of looking at this little screen that they had up on the wall,” Johnson said, is “phenomenal.” It’s transportive. “I can see it better than I can in a theater,” he said. “That’s one of the things that I realized when I started the IV infusions… You have this IV that’s in you for an hour, two hours — might as well watch a movie, and pick the one that I want rather than one that's randomly up there, or the food channel or something like that.” Since the inception of virtual and augmented reality devices, there’s been interest in how the technology could be used in healthcare settings, both to improve patients’ experiences and as a training and enhanced visualization tool for medical practitioners. Studies going back to 2000 have investigated VR’s potential to aid in stress reduction, pain management, physical therapy and more. But only in the last decade has it become feasible enough to explore in earnest, thanks to the rise of consumer VR headsets, a wave ushered in by the original Oculus Rift. Today, at-home VR, AR and mixed reality systems aren’t hard to come by. And with options like Meta’s $300 Quest 3S, it’s possible to get a decent VR setup for a relatively low cost. Not only can patients bring their own headsets, but some clinics and hospitals have already begun their own studies with this tech. In a trial conducted from late 2021 to 2023, the results of which were published recently in the Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing, researchers recruited 90 patients who were receiving chemotherapy at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center’s infusion clinic in Nashville and provided half of them with headsets for a 12-minute VR session during their treatment, while the other half served as the control group. Patients in the VR group were shown narrated tours of places such as Venice, Agra and the Ecuadorian Amazon. All participants recorded their stress levels, pain and mood before and after the sessions. “Across the board, there was improvement in the study group versus the control group,” said Cody Stansel, one of the study’s authors. “We saw that it positively impacted the patient's side effects. It reduced their stress levels. Generally, we didn't see patients that were experiencing a whole lot of pain, but there was still a reduction in the amount of pain they're experiencing, so we saw results from that as well… It went really well, patients responded very favorably.” In addition to the self-reported ratings the patients provided, the researchers measured their heart rates before and halfway through the 12-minute sessions, and found the measurements supported their feelings of reduced stress. The difference was significant between the control group and patients who’d used VR, with heart rates among the latter group decreasing by an average of 6.6 beats per minute at the midway check, according to the paper. Crucially, the patients also reported whether they’d experienced cybersickness, the condition similar to motion sickness that VR induces in some people. “What we found is patients didn't really experience any measurable motion sickness,” Stansel said. “All of the responses across the board were really low with that, but we were intentional when we chose the programming to choose ones that had a low motion sickness rating to begin with. We had chosen these tourism videos where they're basically just standing there, because we wanted to avoid any of that — cancer patients, because of the chemotherapy and things, can be more prone to nausea, so we definitely didn't want to make anything worse if they're already experiencing that.” According to the researchers, the findings suggest VR could be an effective and accessible distraction tool for patients undergoing treatments like chemotherapy. Even if patients don’t bring their own devices, for a clinic, the cost of entry is low, “a few hundred bucks to get started,” Stansel notes. “As long as you clean well and take care of them, they’ll last quite a while.” But the potential benefits — alleviating stress and pain — are great. “Modern day virtual reality consumes so many of your senses that it's very easy to kind of temporarily forget about where you are and what you're going through, and so the patients are really just able to focus on the experience,” Stansel said. “It kind of takes their mind off all the other things they have going on.” More research into the subject could shed light on VR’s efficacy in providing relief for patients experiencing higher pain levels, or if other types of content would work better for certain situations. For patients already strapping into immersive virtual worlds to help them get through difficult days, though, it’s proven invaluable. On Reddit, Johnson shared a selfie of him wearing his Apple Vision Pro during an infusion, and other users chimed in to share where they’d brought their own headsets to pass the time: four-hour dialysis sessions; chemo; a hospital stay in the isolation ward. Whether a person is playing games, watching a movie or using an app to calm down, people “need a distraction, something that they enjoy,” Johnson said. “Ultimately, if you’re in that type of environment, you want to distract yourself from the pain.”This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/vr-is-helping-to-make-daunting-medical-treatments-more-bearable-for-patients-161505375.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 Composting was a big — and daily — part of my life for five years when I lived off-grid. Granted, we were composting more than just food, but I learned a lot about what goes into making a healthy compost pile. Mostly, it’s a lot of work — and now that I live in a city, I don’t do it myself. To be clear, I still believe in composting, especially when you consider that each person in the US throws away an estimated 200 pounds of food per year. Food waste in landfills does bad stuff, like releasing methane and contributing to climate change. In compost, old food does good stuff, like improving the soil and acting as a carbon sink. Now that more municipal curbside composting programs exist, millions of people have a dead simple way to deal with food scraps. But if you, like me, live where city-wide compost pickup isn’t yet a thing, you have two options: compost at home, with or without a machine to help out, or do what I do and pay someone to compost for you.. How to compost at home It’s tempting to think of composting as building a holder, throwing in food and coming back a few weeks later to something you can toss in your garden, but the reality requires much more time, space and effort. For me, the toughest part of composting was the consistency it required. At least a few times per week, any active compost pile needs tending, including adding to it, turning it, watering it in dry climates or shielding it from excess rain. In addition to time, home composting requires the space and materials to build the bins. You’ll also need a regular source of “brown” or carbon-rich materials like dried leaves, untreated paper, cardboard, sawdust or wood chips. Plenty of people have put together how-tos on the subject. I followed The Mini Farming Guide to Composting, but these online guides will also serve you well: EPA: Offers a high-level overview of the process and includes a handy chart with examples of green and brown materials. ILSR: A more in-depth guide, complete with illustrations and the reasoning behind each step. NMSU: A science-rich reference with multiple methods and troubleshooting suggestions. Joe Gardener: A multi-page, highly detailed PDF from Joe Lamp’l, the host of PBS and DIY Network gardening shows. Each source gives the same basic advice: build your bin, collect your food scraps, stockpile brown materials, maintain your ratios, monitor and amend moisture and aeration levels, then let a full heap finish for six to eight weeks . As you can see, composting correctly isn’t as easy as chucking scraps into a bin and letting time handle the rest. Of course, if the process appeals to you that’s not a drawback. Gardeners in particular, who are out in the yard anyway, make excellent candidates for keeping up healthy piles — not to mention, they also have the most use for the finished product. People without yards, however, are out of luck . Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget Kitchen composting machines Calling them “composters” is a misnomer, since these devices don’t actually create compost – that requires microbial processes that take weeks. Instead, these appliances chop and dehydrate food, creating an odor-free material that’s substantially smaller in volume than what went in. You can even include meat and dairy – an advantage over home compost piles in which animal products are generally not recommended. As for what comes out, it can be added to your backyard pile, spread in your garden, added to houseplants or thrown in the green bin or trash – where it will take up less room and won’t stink anything up. I haven't tested any of these devices, but after researching from the perspective of a fairly informed composter, here’s what I see as the pros and cons of a few of the more popular devices on the market. Mill I like that Mill offers a solution for the substance it produces and that it’s large enough to hold the scraps an average family might generate over the course of a few weeks. Instead of buying the machine outright, you sign up for a subscription, which includes the Mill bin and USPS pickup for the “grounds” it creates. Add food throughout the day and the dehydration and mixing cycles run automatically each night. …Once it's full, you empty the contents into a prepaid box and ship it to Mill’s facility in Washington where the grounds are turned into food for chickens. You can also keep the grounds, feeding them to your own backyard chickens, adding them to a compost bin or sprinkling them in your yard where water will begin the actual composting process. If you go that route, you’ll pay $30 or $50 per month, depending whether you pay annually or monthly for the bin itself. For the Mill machine plus pickup for the grounds, you’ll pay an extra $10 per month on the annual plan or $15 each month. Lomi Lomi also chops and dehydrates your scraps. The unit is smaller than the Mill, so you’ll likely have to empty it every few days. It offers three modes, one of which, Grow Mode, uses small capsules of probiotics called Lomi Pods to create “plant food” in about 20 hours. Lomi suggests mixing the results with regular soil at a ratio of one to ten. If you have a yard, it’s easy enough to add a little here and there to maintain the ratio, and if you’re an apartment dweller with houseplants you can mix small amounts into the soil. But the end product should only be used sparingly, like a fertilizer, so you’ll probably need to do something else with the excess. Lomi suggests adding the excess to your compost, dropping it into your green bin if your city provides curbside compost pickup or throwing it in the trash where it will take up less space and won’t smell. Reencle Reencle is larger like the Mill bin, and involves microorganisms in the process like Lomi. You can buy it outright or rent it for $30 per month, but that doesn’t include pickup for the results. I like that Reencle is, in essence, a living pile of fermentation, using low heat, grinders and a regenerating bacterial population to break down your food scraps. Adding scraps daily “feeds” the pile, and when it’s full, you’re only supposed to remove about half of what’s in there, leaving the rest to breed more Bacilli. Again, the material works as a plant food or fertilizer, not like standard compost. Reencle recommends a byproduct-to-soil ratio of one part to four, and that you let the mixture sit for five days before adding to your monsteras and gardens. Photo by Amy Skorheim / Engadget Why you should consider a composting service DIY home composting is a lot of work. Countertop machines are expensive and, from what users say, noisy and sometimes unreliable. Both methods leave you to figure out what to do with the byproduct, whether it’s the finished compost from your bins or the dehydrated proto-compost from the appliances. That’s great for gardeners — compost makes plants happy. Everyone else may find themselves stuck with a delightful pile of black gold and nowhere to put it. Home composting also doesn’t let you take advantage of compostable dishware, bags and to-go items. Companies like Matter Compostables make cups, plates and utensils that compost down in about a year at commercial composting facilities . That decomposition time frame sure beats the multiple centuries it takes for a plastic fork to degrade. Matter even makes compostable kitchen trash bags, which I found to be surprisingly strong replacements for plastic. In cities where municipal composting exists, many restaurants are beginning to offer compostable to-go containers. That not only drastically reduces plastic use, people can also toss unwanted leftovers and the box it came in into the bin. Of course, not all of us live in cities with municipal composting services . Which is why I pay for a local service and I recommend it. Most subscription-based compost pick-up services work the same way: for a monthly fee, they provide you with a bucket and lid. You fill the bucket with leftovers and set it on your front porch/steps/stoop on pickup day. They collect your bucket, leaving you a fresh one on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Scraps are then composted on a large scale and the results are sold to local farms or people in the community. Each service has different rules about what you can add, but most let you throw all food and food-related items in the bucket . You can also usually include coffee filters, pizza boxes, houseplants, BPI-certified compostable plastics and paper towels . All services ask that you remove produce stickers and pull the staples from your teabags. I have our pickup scheduled for every other Tuesday. Does two weeks’ worth of food in a bucket stink? It does. To help with that, we keep our bucket outside with the lid firmly on. I keep a canister on the countertop to fill with scraps throughout the day and empty it into the bucket when the canister is full or starts to smell. I also keep old food in the fridge until right before collection day. Of course, these services aren’t available everywhere, and they cost $20 to $40 per month, so it’s not a universal solution. I pay $22 for a twice monthly pickup and I look at the cost in terms of time: I would spend more than two hours a month maintaining a compost pile, so if I value my labor at $12 per hour, which is my state’s minimum wage, the cost is worth it. I like the little perks too, like getting a “free” bag of compost twice per year and having a place to drop off our yearly batch of jack-o-lanterns once the faces start caving in. The service I use is also currently working on opening a new composting facility that will allow it to take in more food scraps from restaurants and even create a community space. That’s a much better end game for my avocado pit than being sealed up for eternity in a landfill. A sampling of composting services in the largest US markets Modern tech is making it easier for these services to pop up in more cities. Sign-up is done online and most payments are automatic. My driver told me they use the Stop Suite app to optimize their pickup routes, send out text reminders and handle other customer service functions. Composting may be old as dirt, but the way we’re creating it is brand new. Of the 20 largest metro areas in the US, nine have or will have municipally-run compost collection programs. I spent some time in Seattle, where most homes had three collection bins: trash, recycling and compost. That’s by far the easiest and cheapest way to do it. But if you don’t live in one of those nine locales with city-run services — you’ll have to go the paid route. Here’s a list of the community composting services available in 11 major metro areas: New Jersey: Garden State Composting, Neighborhood Compost Chicago: WasteNot Compost, The Urban Canopy, Collective Resource Compost Dallas: Recycle Revolution Houston: Moonshot Compost, Zero Waste Houston Washington DC: Compost Crew, Veteran Compost Philadelphia: Mother Compost, Circle Compost, Bennett Compost Atlanta: Awesome Possum Composting, Compost Now Miami: Compost for Life, Renuable Phoenix: R.City Detroit: Midtown Composting, Scrap Soils Tampa: Suncoast Compost Albuquerque : Little Green Bucket This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/how-to-compost-at-home-140047133.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 23:01 When Google debuted AI Mode at the start of March, the company promised to work quickly on bringing the feature to more users, and now it's doing exactly. Following a smaller expansion last month, the company says AI Mode is now available to all Labs users, with no wait list in place to limit access. As a reminder, AI Mode is a new chatbot that Google has built directly into Search. Labs, meanwhile, is a program you can sign up for to try out new Search features before they're widely available. With today's expansion, Google is also updating AI Mode to add new visual cards that will appear when you ask the chatbot for information related to places and products. "For local spots, like restaurants, salons and stores, you can quickly see info like ratings, reviews, and opening hours, and if you’re looking for a product, you’ll see shoppable options with real-time prices , images, shipping details and local inventory," Google says of the new feature. Google On desktop, Google is also adding a search history tool, allowing users to revisit and continue previous conversations they've had with AI Mode. The idea here is to allow people to pick up on research they might have left unfinished. If you're not enrolled in Labs and live in the US, there's a chance you might see AI Mode appear in Search sometime in the coming weeks. Google says it's doing this because the response to the feature has been "incredibly positive," and it wants to collect additional feedback before a broader rollout. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/google-prepares-to-start-testing-ai-mode-with-regular-search-users-160027861.html?src=rss

01.05.2025 18:00 Apple has been ordered to pay a $502 million lump sum payment by UK courts for infringing on patents owned by Optis Cellular Technology LLC, based out of Texas. When you include interest and fees, Optis estimates the total sum to be in excess of $700 million. This particular company is not an aggrieved innovator, but instead what is referred to as a “patent troll.” That’s a company that buys up niche patents with the specific intent to seek damages for infringement from lucrative defendants like Apple, and it’s not their first time being awarded damages from the Cupertino giant. This lawsuit was originally filed through London courts in 2019 over patents governing cellular technology, including 4G, that Optis says was improperly used in iPads and iPhones. In 2023, London’s High Court ruled in Optis’ favor and ordered Apple to pay just over $56 million plus interest to settle the dispute, inclusive of past and future sales that featured the offending tech. Optis successfully argued that this was far too low a sum, leading to the half-a-billion-dollars in damages ordered today. The iPhone maker has found itself in court over patent infringements time and time again in the past — not only with patent trolls, but also fellow industry stalwarts. The ability for enormous tech companies to infringe on design or utility patents and pay pennies on the dollar for the damage done years later seems to be a feature, not a bug. Apple has unsurprisingly responded by promising to appeal the court's decision, to which Optis insisted it will fight to defend its intellectual property. Optis provided Engadget with the following statement: "We’re pleased the UK Court of Appeals has recognized and corrected a clearly flawed prior ruling and has made meaningful progress toward affirming the true value of our patents to Apple devices. In addition to ordering payment that exceeds $700 million with interest and fees, the Court has judged that 'Apple’s significant negotiating strength leads some parties to agree lower rates than would be agreed between a willing licensor/willing licensee' thereby gaining an unfair advantage. We will continue to ensure fair compensation for the Optis intellectual property that enables high-speed connectivity for millions of devices around the world." Update, May 1, 2025, 11:53AM ET: This story was updated with a statement from Optis and details about the total compensation inclusive of fees and interest. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-ordered-to-pay-502-million-to-optis-by-uk-courts-153053338.html?src=rss