Catalyst

How Universal Control on macOS Monterey works

The best moment of this year’s WWDC keynote was a straightforward demo of a macOS feature, Universal Control. The idea is simple enough: it allows you to use the keyboard and trackpad on a Mac to directly control an iPad, and even makes it simple to drag and drop content between those devices. What made… Read more

Amazon will stop testing most employees for weed

Amazon is relaxing its policy around employees using weed, according to a new blog post, and will no longer enforce marijuana drug tests for any employee who isn’t also regulated by the Department of Transportation, like a delivery driver. In the past, Amazon used positive tests as a reason to disqualify applicants during the hiring… Read more

How Pixar created Luca’s adorable, transforming sea monsters

Luca, the next feature film from Pixar, is a coming-of-age story about a pair of unassuming young boys who carry a big secret, as they’re actually sea monsters. Luca and Alberto appear as human on land, where they explore a quaint Italian seaside village. Normally, though, they’re iguana-like sea creatures covered in scales. For the… Read more

12 EA games get 120fps boost on Xbox Series X / S

Microsoft is enabling its Xbox FPS Boost mode on 13 EA games, with 12 now supporting up to 120fps. The FPS Boost feature for Xbox Series X and Series S consoles is designed to make existing games run better. While Microsoft has improved frame rates with some backward-compatible games, FPS Boost specifically bumps performance to… Read more

Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million

Until October, the most Mike Winkelmann — the digital artist known as Beeple — had ever sold a print for was $100. Today, an NFT of his work sold for $69 million at Christie’s. The sale positions him “among the top three most valuable living artists,” according to the auction house. The record-smashing NFT sale… Read more

Batman’s next comic series is a Fortnite crossover

DC Comics and Fortnite developer Epic Games are joining forces on a new Batman and Fortnite-themed crossover comic book. The six-issue miniseries, titled Batman / Fortnite: Zero Point, will debut on April 20th. Two issues will then launch in both May and June before the series concludes with a final issue on July 6th. Longtime… Read more

This $30 Case Fan Purifies Your PC with UV Lighting and High-Tech Filters

Home News Apexgaming AC-120Ti (Image credit: Apexgaming) If you’re a fan (*cough*) of cool hardware, the Apexgaming AC-120Ti should be right up your alley. The AC-120Ti isn’t your ordinary case fan as it actually features what the brand calls a “nano photocatalyst air purification” system that purifies the air that goes into your computer case…. Read more

Xbox Game Pass: These games are included in the subscription for 2021

Initially only a niche product, cloud gaming services are becoming increasingly popular. Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass is no exception. The monthly subscription now includes over 100 games and only in January four new titles are added. Since the end 2020 EA Play has already been included in the basic version of the subscription. This additional… Read more

The Mandalorian collides with the broader Star Wars universe in its season 2 finale

As expected, The Mandalorian’s finale culminated in a dramatic showdown between Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) — aka, Mando — and Moff Gideon (Giancarlo Esposito) over the fate of Grogu (née Baby Yoda). But “The Rescue” didn’t just run into the expected complications for an assault on a massive Imperial cruiser: it also ran into the… Read more

Corona fuels online auctions

The corona pandemic has also shaken up the art auction market worldwide. The big New York auction houses had to postpone their normally record-breaking face-to-face auctions in May and November and finally relocated them largely to the Internet. Auction records in the three-digit million range such as 2008, as a Monet painting for 110 million… Read more

Study: Electromobility does not endanger as many jobs as feared

The transition to electromobility will not cost as many jobs at Volkswagen as previously feared. This is what the Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Engineering and Organization assumes. They apply their results to the entire industry and in some cases give the all-clear. The average need for employees will be up to 2029 decrease by 12… Read more

heise offer: heise MacDev: Online conference with focus on Apple's SwiftUI starts soon

The developer conference heise MacDev is just around the corner: This time the online conference will take place on Wednesday, December 2nd – a participation booking is still possible for a short time. The focus of the conference is on Apple’s still young declarative development framework SwiftUI, which is intended to simplify the implementation of… Read more

Best Apple AirPods accessories 2020

(Pocket-lint) – It’s no exaggeration to call the release of Apple’s AirPods a few years ago a bit of a revolution. All of a sudden, true wireless earbuds were in the mainstream, and they’ve only got more popular since then. They might not be to everyone’s taste when it comes to design but they are… Read more

Gaia-X: Big US hyperscalers want to get involved in the EU cloud

Gaia-X should become an interoperable European alternative to cloud services from IT giants such as Amazon, Alibaba, Google or Microsoft. But most of the Americans in particular immediately expressed interest in participating and are now all on board at least as partners and members of technical working groups. At the two-day digital “Gaia-X Summit”, all… Read more

Oculus Quest 2 Review: Lighter, Faster, Better

Our Verdict The Oculus Quest 2 has excellent performance, striking visuals and is lighter than the old version. It has its shortcomings, such as uncomfortable controllers, but the HMD’s a worthy replacement for the original Quest and as Facebook’s sole VR headset. For Amazing resolution Lightweight, compact and portable Much more powerful than original Quest… Read more