Hi, friends! Welcome to Installer No. 64, your guide to the best and Verge-iest stuff in the world. (If you’re new here, welcome, get ready for some weird documentaries, and also you can read all the old editions at the Installer homepage.) This week, I’ve been reading about raw milk and $HAWK and WhatsApp, watching… Read more
read more...A worthy update to my favorite mobile game ever
By: The Verge
Now ChromeOS can reset itself without erasing your laptop
By: The Verge
This week, Google announced it’s rolling out ChromeOS M131 to non-beta users, bringing with it a handy “Safety reset” feature that lets Chromebook users reset their laptops without totally wiping them. The update also introduced a new “Flash notifications” accessibility option to help those who might not otherwise easily hear or see them. Like Powerwash… Read more
read more...Windows warns Phone Link won’t show ‘sensitive’ Android 15 notifications
By: The Verge
Microsoft’s Phone Link app is warning that Android smartphones using the latest version of Android 15 won’t display certain “sensitive” notifications, according to a post from Mishaal Rahman spotted by Windows Central. The warning is the result of an Android 15 privacy feature that automatically categorizes notifications like those containing 2FA codes as “sensitive” and… Read more
read more...Nintendo Switch 2 design seemingly leaked by carrying case maker — similar aesthetics but with a larger screen and Joy-Cons
By: Tom's Hardware
Several legitimate-looking leaks of the Nintendo Switch 2’s final design have surfaced this past week. Still, these culminated yesterday with Dbrand’s unexpected release of a full 3D render of a Nintendo Switch 2, albeit with a version of the Dbrand Killswitch carrying case for handheld PCs redesigned for Switch 2. Speaking to The Verge on… Read more
read more...YouTube TV is letting some subscribers hold off that price hike
By: The Verge
YouTube announced a hefty subscription price increase this week that will shoot the monthly cost up by $10 to $82.99 on January 13th for existing members (or now, if you sign up today). Some subscribers are staving off the hike using the time-honored tradition of threatening to cancel, as one Verge reader indicated in a… Read more
read more...HDMI 2.2 will be announced next month — and it may require a new cable
By: The Verge
The group behind the HDMI standard, HDMI Forum, says that it will detail a new spec release in a press conference on January 6th that will enable “a wide range of higher resolutions and refresh rates.” The new capabilities will be “supported with a new cable,” according to the HDMI Forum’s email to The Verge… Read more
read more...PlayStation 5 transformed into a laptop for $2,750 — Chinese modders made Sony’s console more portable with a 17.3-inch 4K display weighing over 9 pounds
By: Tom's Hardware
Chinese modders have made Sony’s PlayStation 5 portable (Credit: VideoCardz) in a laptop-esque battery-less form factor at Weibo. BBook AI has a massive 17.3-inch display and a rather chunky build reminiscent of old bulky gaming laptops. It weighs over 9 pounds, but it is visually a real head-turner. The BBook AI Original Edition’s 3D-printed chassis… Read more
read more...There’s a budget GeForce GPU selling in China that not even Nvidia knew it made — RTX 4010 turns out to be a modified RTX A400 workstation GPU
By: Tom's Hardware
(Image credit: Nvidia) According to Nvidia, the RTX 4010 doesn’t exist, yet one YouTuber could buy one and use it mostly without issue. The video by Budget-Builds Official shows off the graphics card that purports to be an RTX 4010. How the YouTuber obtained the card is strange; Budget-Builds Official found the GPU on an… Read more
read more...Rhode Island’s online benefits system shuts down after cyberattack
By: The Verge
Rhode Island took its RIBridges system for applying for public assistance programs like Medicaid offline Friday following a cyberattack that may have exposed the personal data of hundreds of thousands of people, reports CBS affiliate WPRI 12. With its RIBridges system offline, Rhode Islanders won’t be able to log into RIBridges’ web portal or app,… Read more
read more...Intel Arrow Lake-H and AMD Krackan Point laptops emerge at retailers — preliminary listings indicate that manufacturers are gearing up for launch next month
By: Tom's Hardware
Preliminary listings at Australian and Greek retailers (credit: Huang514613 at X) reveal that Asus’s next wave of laptop offerings—powered by AMD’s Krackan Point and Intel’s Arrow Lake-H processors—is on the horizon. Many rumors suggest that AMD and Intel plan to unveil their next-generation mobile offerings next month at CES 2025. AMD is expected to showcase… Read more
read more...Overclocking Arrow Lake: How I set world records, plus simple tips to push your Core Ultra to the limit
By: Tom's Hardware
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware) Intel’s Arrow Lake has tremendous memory overclocking potential — as I’ll outline below. I was able to set the world memory overclocking frequency record at an insane DDR5-12666 — and some dead-simple tuning tips can help improve performance even for regular builds. However, the new chip design presents plenty of challenges… Read more
read more...One of the year’s best movies was filmed in first person
By: The Verge
RaMell Ross considers himself more of a visual artist than a movie director. His second film, Nickel Boys, attempts a visual artist’s feat: a feature shot entirely from the first-person point of view. Every decade, it seems, first-person camerawork reemerges in film. Kathryn Bigelow’s dystopian thriller Strange Days (1995) cut to it when its characters… Read more
read more...L’Oréal Colorsonic review: shades of gray
By: The Verge
When I was a kid, my mom and auntie would retreat into the bathroom, hands wrapped in latex gloves, newspaper covering the counters and floor as they mixed together a dark, foul-smelling paste in a plastic bowl. For hours, they’d alternately gossip and brush the paste into each other’s hair. When the monthly ritual was… Read more
read more...US to patch loopholes that allow China to buy banned AI GPUs from other countries — new regulations include national quotas on GPU exports and a global licensing system
By: Tom's Hardware
Chinese entities have obtained advanced Nvidia GPUs for AI and HPC applications despite U.S. restrictions through an advanced underground smuggling network from third-party countries. The U.S. government is unhappy about this, so it plans to implement new regulations to limit Chinese companies from acquiring these AI GPUs from intermediary countries. The rule will purportedly go into effect… Read more
read more...TSMC shares deep-dive details about its cutting edge 2nm process node at IEDM 2024 — 35 percent less power, or 15% more performance
By: Tom's Hardware
(Image credit: TSMC via IEDM) TSMC revealed additional details about its N2 (2nm-class) fabrication process at the IEEE International Electron Device Meeting (IEDM) earlier this month. The new production node promises a 24 to 35% power reduction or 15% performance improvement at the same voltage, and 1.15X higher transistor density than the prior-gen 3nm process…. Read more
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