In 2020, Microsoft was battling to bring xCloud or Xbox Game Streaming to the iPhone and iPad, and the conversations had an unlikely victim: Shadow — a third-party cloud gaming app that lets you stream PC games to an iPhone or iPad.
Emails between Microsoft and Apple, revealed in the Epic v. Apple trial today, show how the Xbox maker was trying to get xCloud on iOS. Microsoft was trying to figure out how Shadow, Netflix, and other similar “interactive” apps were able to exist in the App Store while Apple was refusing to approve xCloud. Microsoft put forward Shadow as an example of such a service, only to see it suddenly removed from the store.
“We were showing two examples where a game or an application was able to exist, and we didn’t understand why we couldn’t,” explained Lori Wright, Microsoft’s head of business development for Xbox, during the Epic v. Apple trial today. “I believe they [Apple] ended up pulling Shadow out of the App Store based off this email we sent until they submitted changes. That was not our intention of course, it was a byproduct.”
Shadow on iPhone.Image: Shadow
While Shadow’s removal wasn’t permanent, Apple has temporarily removed the app from the App Store twice in the past year. Shadow was first removed in February last year, with Apple reportedly citing a “failure to act in accordance with a specific part of the Apple App Store Guidelines.” Apple once again removed Shadow from the App Store in February, and the app returned a week later.
Shadow revealed that the app was removed the second time “due to a misunderstanding” around the nature of the app. “Unlike game streaming services, Shadow provides a full Windows 10 PC, rather than a library of games,” explained Luc Hancock, a community manager for Shadow. “This unique approach allows Shadow to comply with the App Store guidelines, so that you can access your Shadow PC on any iOS device to run your favorite games and software.”
Valve struggled for more than a year to launch its Steam Link game streaming service on iOS. Apple rejected the app, likely because it allowed an iOS user to access another app store, Steam, within Apple’s tightly controlled ecosystem. Apple revised its rules after rejecting Steam Link, and the app was finally approved two years ago in May 2019.
xCloud on iOS via the web.Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge
Apple continued to make it difficult for services like xCloud and Stadia to run the way Microsoft and Google wanted to on iOS devices after those conversations, only slowly making App Store policy carve-outs that would let the services operate under severe restrictions. Apple now insists that developers individually submit games as separate apps using their streaming tech, only then bundling them together as a “catalog”-style app.
Microsoft wasn’t impressed with Apple’s approach, calling it a “bad experience for customers.” This public spat has now boiled over into the courtroom battle between Epic Games and Apple, with lawyers on Epic’s side questioning Microsoft and Nvidia representatives about their struggles to bring cloud gaming apps to iOS.
Both Microsoft and Nvidia have had to give in to Apple’s restrictions and launch their cloud gaming services through the Safari web browser instead.
The Anker PowerConf C300 is a consistent strong performer across lighting conditions, with a bevy of genuinely useful features that help make up for some stumbles in presentation.
For
+ Consistent image quality
+ Bonus features work well
+ Lots of value
Against
– Detachable camera shutter feels cheap
– Laggy Software
Anker’s new $130 PowerConf C300 webcam is part of a new initiative from the charger company to break into productivity gear. Labeled under the Anker Work brand, this camera is clearly aimed at professionals looking to buy the best webcams for video conferences. That means it packs a detailed 1080p sensor with multiple field of view options including 78 degrees, 90 degrees and 115 degrees, plus plenty of advanced features like AI framing, HDR and 60 FPS recording.
That’s a level of customizability that’s usually reserved for more expensive, enthusiast shooters like the Razer Kiyo Pro. But while the Anker’s visual fidelity didn’t quite live up to those $200 Kiyo Pro’s, probably because it doesn’t have the Kiyo’s powerful sensor, its strong suite of features still make a strong argument for spending slightly more on it than you would on a more casual but proven camera like the Logitech C920.
Regarding those features, the Anker PowerConf C300 comes with 4 shooting modes, including Personal, Meeting, Streaming and Custom. Personal and Meeting modes both use a “flexible angle” that adjusts the field of view and image framing based on your head movement and placement, although the former tends to be more zoomed-in while the latter is more zoomed out. Streaming mode, meanwhile, locks the camera at a 90-degree field of view and turns on 60 fps recording, while custom mode lets you set your own field of view and frame rate combinations in addition to getting the option to toggle on the HDR and Anti-Flicker settings.
In practical use, I found that most Streaming mode and Meeting mode photos tended to look identical, so for the below tests, I stuck to taking photos in Personal and Meeting modes. I did not include Custom mode in my tests, as I do not have an HDR monitor to test with.
Well-Lit Room
Anker PowerConf C300 Personal Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Anker PowerConf C300 Meeting Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Logitech C920
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
In terms of image fidelity, the Anker PowerConf C300 was roughly on par in a well-lit room with the Logitech C920, which is our leading mid-range 1080p webcam. However, perhaps reflecting its slightly higher price and more extended feature set, the Anker PowerConf C300 was much more accurate when it came to colors.
While the Logitech tends to give me a cooler color temperature than in real life, color in photos taken with the Anker came across as far more neutral and natural. This also extended to background elements, which tend to get washed out when using the Logitech.
Low-Light Room
Anker PowerConf C300 Personal Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Anker PowerConf C300 Meeting Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Logitech C920
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
When I drew my curtain and turned off all light sources in my office except for my computer monitor, I found that the difference between the Anker and Logitech webcams was, well, night and day. While the Anker now portrayed me with a cooler but still accurate color tone, its fidelity remained largely unchanged.
Meanwhile, the Logitech C920 introduced significant grain to its photos, especially on background elements. The Logitech’s color temperature also got even cooler than before, which made me look sickly.
Overexposed Room
Anker PowerConf C300 Personal Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Anker PowerConf C300 Meeting Mode
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Logitech C920
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
I also took shots with the Anker PowerConf C300 and Logitech C920 pointing towards my window, to test how they work in an overexposed environment. While this is an over exaggeration of most user setups, it can help shed light on how a webcam might work under heavy light saturation.
The Logitech was, unfortunately, mostly unusable. While it did catch a glimpse of the buildings outside my window, which is impressive given that many webcams instead render windows as pure sheets of white, my face is bathed in too much shadow for me to want to call anyone under these conditions.
The Anker, however, again retained most of its fidelity in these conditions. The edges of my head were tinged by light in shots I took with it, but none of my face was hidden by excessive shadow. And while photos did suffer from a “white sheet” effect, putting the emphasis on the face is the right choice here. Even background elements appeared without issue, arguably looking better than in more neutrally lit shots.
Build Quality of the Anker PowerConf C300
Build quality is where it feels like the Anker PowerConf C300 stumbles most, although its emphasis on versatility extends to its build as well. That means you can tilt it forward 180 degrees, plus swivel it a full 360 degrees. For placement, the monitor mount fits snugly and has the typical hole for connecting a tripod on the bottom. It also connects using a detachable USB-C cable and has an optional privacy cover, but it’s here that the camera starts to show its weaknesses.
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(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The first, and less egregious, problem is that the webcam only includes a USB-C to USB-C cable in the box. If you want to connect over USB Type-A, you have to use a small adapter that you’re likely to lose. It’s a small price to pay for USB-C functionality and can be easily resolved with your own USB-C to USB-A cable, but small and easily lost parts are still worth bringing up. Which takes us to the removable privacy slider.
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The privacy slider is a detachable and purely physical switch, which means there’s no hardware level shut-off here, and you get two in the box. While that sounds like a nice gesture, it’s a testament to how easy it is to make one of these unusable. That’s because the slider attaches using glue. This introduced a few problems, the most dramatic one being that you probably won’t want to take the slider on and off a lot. Doing so can weaken the adhesive, and it’s not like it’s easy to find a place to store the slider in the meantime without leaving the glue open to the air. While this doesn’t present a major issue if you plan to use it all the time, I personally think the slider’s kind of ugly, and wouldn’t want it on at all times. Additionally, if we’re not meant to remove it frequently, why make it detachable instead of building it into the device?
There’s also the question of whether the glue will leave residue on your device, although I haven’t found this to be the case with my unit. It can be tricky to pry the slider off, though, which I suppose makes me happy that I have long fingernails.
As for the slider itself, it does its job well when attached securely, although its thin plastic has me worried about the slide rail’s durability over time. I’m also worried that the glue could break down over time, although this didn’t happen to me in the few days I used this camera while writing this review.
There’s also no guiding marks for where the slider should go on the webcam, so it’s easy to make a mistake when installing it, and adjusting it could weaken the glue.
The Anker PowerConf C300’s cord measured a little over 59 inches when pulled fully taut, which was long enough to easily reach all of my desktop’s USB ports.Logitech says the C920 has having a nearly-identical 60-inch cord, but as you can see in the picture above, its cord is noticeably longer than the PowerConf C300’s. When I pulled it taut and measured it with some measuring tape, it hit 70 inches, making it nearly a foot longer.
The PowerConf C300 also has built-in dual microphones that produce loud audio but also tended to give my voice a somewhat warbly effect that hurt clarity.
Special Features on the Anker PowerConf C300
The Anker PowerConf C300’s guide gives you instructions for downloading the free AnkerWork app, which is how you’ll access the camera’s different preset recording modes, adjust settings like brightness and saturation and set up a custom recording mode with HDR, anti-flicker, and/or 60FPS support.
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The user interface is simple and light, although it’s a bit annoying to me that I need to scroll down a long list to see all the different ways a recording preset will affect my shot. I would have preferred a layout that puts as much information on my screen at once as possible. But the biggest problem here is lag, which makes the image setting section (where you can adjust photo settings like brightness or sharpness) near unusable.
Every time you press a button or move a slider in the AnkerWork app, you’re going to need to wait at least a second while it applies your changes to the camera. This is obnoxious but not insurmountable when turning HDR or Anti-Flicker on or off. But for image settings, it makes it difficult for you to select a specific number, move by small increments, or test out different settings. That’s because the lag starts as soon as you click on the slider and move your mouse, and can last as long as 5 seconds. You won’t get to see where your slider ended up until after the lag ends. There’s buttons to move the slider by increments of 1 for fine tuning, which helps with this somewhat, but using them takes agonizingly long thanks to each button press triggering even more lag.
Compare this to the user interface and snappy response times for the software for the Razer Kiyo Pro, which also supports HDR and 60fps shots, and it’s easy to see there’s a lot of room for improvement here. A large firmware update and software pitch did hit as I was finishing this review, which helped reduce lag times in most instances, but they are still present and still make the image menu almost intolerable to use.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
As for the HDR and Anti-Flicker support, turning them on is as simple as flipping a toggle (and waiting for the lag), although the former is only available when recording at 30 fps. I wasn’t able to test HDR as I don’t have an HDR monitor, but turning it on even on my non-HDR setup still made images appear slightly brighter and richer.
As for 60 fps recording, it works smoothly once you click the toggle on. A 20 second video recorded at 60 fps also only took up 45.5 MB on my hard drive, which was only 0.5 MB larger than a 30 fps video of the same length. You can also stream at 60 fps, which I had no issue doing on a private YouTube stream.
Anker’s auto frame and solo frame options can be a little trickier to see the benefits of. While they automatically zoom in to put the focus on your face as soon as you turn them on, you really have to move a lot to see the frame actually adjust to follow you.
Bottom Line
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The Anker PowerConf C300 has consistent fidelity and enough premium features to more than justify its $130 price tag, even if the implementation for those features needs some work. Regardless of lighting conditions, it always had color accurate shots with no visible artifacting in my testing. And on top of that, its multiple fields of view and auto framing options made taking those shots in the best conditions possible easy.
60 FPS and HDR recording are also boons at this price point, as they’d usually require you to upgrade to something like the $199 Razer Kiyo Pro. They work well here, although the PowerConf C300’s picture quality doesn’t match those premium webcams and the software for accessing those features can frequently be unbearably laggy.
Still, if you want a webcam that can do more than your typical casual shooter but don’t need to go full premium, the Anker PowerConf C300 is an easy choice.
Corsair’s K70 RGB TKL is an unashamedly gaming-focused keyboard. For one thing, it’s only available with the kinds of switches people normally recommend for playing games, while other features like low input latency and a dedicated “tournament switch” for esports clearly have gamers in mind.
At a price of $139.99 (£139.99), these features are coming at a premium, and they’re overkill for anyone not planning on competing at the next Dota 2 International. But the K70 RGB TKL is a complete package with lots of quality-of-life features for non-gamers. It attaches to your PC with a detachable USB-C cable (a first for Corsair) and features customizable per-key RGB backlighting, dedicated media keys, and a roller wheel for volume control.
At this price, the result is a great gaming-focused keyboard but only a good general purpose keyboard.
In case the specs didn’t tip you off beforehand, just looking at the Corsair K70 RGB TKL should tell you everything you need to know about its target audience. The bold, squared-off font on its keycaps is peak gamer, and the case itself has a minimalist, angular design. The only branding you get is a small Corsair logo on the keyboard’s forehead, which illuminates along with the rest of the keyboard’s lighting.
Its design might not be for everyone, but construction quality is good here. The K70’s keycaps are made of hard-wearing PBT plastic, and their legends are double-shot, meaning they let each switch’s lighting shine through and will never rub off. Corsair uses a standard keyboard layout, so you shouldn’t have any problems finding replacement keycaps in the right sizes.
As its name implies, the K70 RGB TKL is a tenkeyless board (hence the “TKL” in its name), meaning you don’t get a numpad to the right of the arrow keys. This makes perfect sense on a gaming keyboard, where you’ll typically spend most of your time with your left hand on the WASD keys and your right hand on a mouse. Unless you really need it for data entry, a numpad just gets in the way. Available layouts include US ANSI, UK ISO (which I’m using), and other European layouts, but there are no Mac-specific keys available.
Although it’s not particularly wide, Corsair’s keyboard has a bit of a forehead to house its media keys and volume roller. I generally prefer this simple approach, rather than having to access media controls through a combination of keypresses, even if it adds a little more bulk to the board. Build quality is otherwise solid; the keyboard wouldn’t flex, no matter how much I tried to bend it.
The keyboard’s configuration options are aimed squarely at gamers. There’s no option for tactile Cherry MX Browns or clicky Cherry MX Blue switches here. Instead, your options are classic gamer Cherry MX Reds, competitive gamer Cherry MX Speed Silvers, or, if you’re in Korea, considerate gamer Cherry MX Silent Reds. My review board came equipped with standard Red switches. The switches aren’t hot-swappable, so you’re going to have to use desoldering tools and then a soldering iron if you want to try out any other switch types.
The nice thing about buying from an established company like Corsair is that its companion software for configuring the keyboard’s layout and lighting effects is slick and polished. iCue is available for Mac and Windows and offers a truly dizzying amount of control over the K70 RGB TKL. You can remap the keyboard’s keys however you like and get access to a plethora of additional lighting effects. The controls are granular and get complicated fast, so I ended up ignoring them and just controlled the keyboard’s lighting from the board itself.
You can control its lighting directly from the keyboard itself or via companion software.
As well as handling lighting controls, iCue can also handle key remapping if you want to swap the layout of your keyboard around. It’s not as necessary a feature on a TKL board as on a smaller board with a more limited selection of keys, but it’s a useful inclusion if you want to tinker.
All of these are useful features regardless of what you want to use the Corsair K70 RGB TKL for. But its more unique features are gaming-focused. First up is a “tournament switch” on the top of the board, which disables any custom macros you’ve set up and switches the backlighting to a single less-distracting color. (You can customize which color using iCue.) It’s the kind of feature I could see being helpful if you’re simultaneously big into online gaming and also use a ton of macros. That’s a pretty slim Venn diagram of users, but thankfully, the switch is completely out of the way otherwise.
The other gaming feature here is an advertised polling rate of 8,000Hz, which is eight times higher than the 1,000Hz rate used by most keyboards. In theory, this means the keyboard’s input lag or the time between you pressing a key and the signal being transmitted to your PC, is as minimal as possible, presumably making all the difference in a high-speed gaming situation. Corsair tells me this brings down median latency to under a quarter of a millisecond, compared to 2 milliseconds and up with a 1,000Hz keyboard. You enable the 8,000Hz polling rate from within Corsair’s software. It’ll warn you that the higher polling rate uses more system resources, but I didn’t notice any impact on performance on my Ryzen 5 3600-equipped gaming PC, and Corsair tells me this should be the same for anyone using a gaming machine built in the last three years.
We’ve seen a similar trend with gaming mice, and Linus Tech Tips did a great analysis of what that actually means for performance. But the real-world difference it makes is minor, and I struggled to feel any difference in responsiveness when switching between playing Overwatch on the Corsair K70 RGB TKL and a regular 1,000Hz Filco office keyboard when playing on a 100Hz monitor. I have no reason to doubt Corsair’s low latency claims, but I think it’s the kind of improvement that only a small number of players will actually be able to notice.
The Corsair K70 RGB TKL is being sold by a gaming-oriented brand as a gaming-oriented keyboard with gaming-oriented switches, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it doesn’t offer the best typing experience. The typing feel just doesn’t match the crispness of a board like the similarly priced Filco Majestouch 2. Instead, bottoming out each keypress feels slightly dulled or softened, and since this keyboard is only available with linear switches, you’re all but guaranteed to bottom out each keypress while you’re typing.
I’ll give credit to Corsair for the K70’s spacebar stabilizer (the mechanism installed under the larger keycap to stop it from wobbling). While this can sometimes sound rattly on other keyboards, there’s no such problem here. But if you listen to the typing sample above, you’ll hear that other stabilized keys like Backspace and Enter have more rattle. Ultimately, the overall typing experience on the K70 RGB TKL is only good, never great.
No numpads here.
At this point, Corsair knows what it’s doing when it comes to mechanical keyboards for gaming. The K70 RGB TKL comes equipped with all of the quality-of-life features that are expected out of a mainstream keyboard at this point: nice durable keycaps, media keys and volume dial, and a detachable USB-C cable. Some of its more gaming-focused features are borderline overkill, but they don’t get in the way.
At its core, though, the K70 RGB TKL is a keyboard designed for gamers, and there are better keyboards out there if you’re only an occasional gamer. You can get a better range of switches elsewhere, as well as a more satisfying typing experience overall. That makes the Corsair K70 RGB TKL a great option for a gaming keyboard, but only a good keyboard overall.
A new Show Mode feature from Amazon is now rolling out to some Lenovo laptops. When you activate this, it will change your home screen to look like the home screen of an Echo Show smart display, in a similar fashion to the Show Mode feature on Amazon’s tablets. That means you’ll be able to do smart display things like controlling smart home devices, glancing at the weather and news headlines, and chatting with Alexa — you know, the kind of stuff you’ve always wished you could do on your ThinkPad.
The feature is currently rolling out to Yoga, ThinkPad, and IdeaPad PCs that have Alexa built in, and it’s available in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, India, Ireland, Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, and New Zealand. Lenovo says it’s coming to more Alexa-enabled PCs later this year.
If you’re interested in trying it out, open the Alexa app (it should come up if you type “Alexa” into the Windows search bar) and press the Show Mode button.
Lenovo first announced this feature at CES 2021 with its Yoga Slim 9i. Chromebooks have had this feature for a while — they can act like a Nest Hub Max when they’re not actively in use, though I can’t say I’ve ever taken advantage of this as a frequent Chromebook user.
Really, Show Mode seems like it would be the most useful on a device with a tablet form factor, which may not always be around its keyboard and touchpad. It could be cool on the ThinkPad X12 Detachable, for example, though the X12 unit that I reviewed earlier this year didn’t come with Alexa. But hey, if you want to try this out on your clamshell, don’t let me stop you.
Dell has released a security patch that fixes a security vulnerability affecting many Dell computers going back to 2009, along with instructions on how to install it if your computer is affected (via threatpost). The vulnerability, found by security research firm SentinelLabs, is present in a driver used by Dell and Alienware’s firmware update utilities, and it allows an attacker to gain full kernel-level permissions in Windows.
If you have a Dell computer, there’s a good chance it could be vulnerable — the list of affected computers on Dell’s website has over 380 models on it, including some of the latest XPS 13 and 15 models, and the G3, G5, and G7 gaming laptops. Dell also lists almost 200 affected computers that it considers to be no longer receiving service.
Both Dell and SentinelLabs say that they haven’t seen evidence of the vulnerability being exploited by hackers, despite the fact that it’s been around for so long. Dell’s FAQ indicates that someone would have to have access to your computer in some way to take advantage of the bug, which they could get through malware, phishing, or being granted remote access privileges.
It is also worth noting that, according to Dell, the vulnerable driver isn’t pre-loaded on systems — instead, it gets installed when the user updates their computer’s firmware.
Still, even if you don’t remember doing anything like that, you should probably add opening the Dell or Alienware Update utility and installing anything available to your to-do list today.
Epic pushed Microsoft to open up its Xbox network for free multiplayer gaming just weeks before the Apple and Fortnite battle. In the weeks leading up to Epic Games’ decision to circumvent Apple’s 30 percent cut on Fortnite in-app purchases, CEO Tim Sweeney sent an email to Xbox chief Phil Spencer teasing something big and asking whether Microsoft could time free multiplayer with Fortnite season 14.
“Epic has certain plans for August that will provide an extraordinary opportunity to highlight the value proposition of consoles and PCs, in contrast to mobile platforms, and to onboard new console users,” said Sweeney. “While I can’t share details with any third party at this point, I give you Epic’s assurance that our efforts will be positive and supportive of Microsoft, Xbox and Windows.”
Sweeney also asked Spencer whether free Xbox Live multiplayer was coming, and whether Microsoft could time it to support Fortnite season 14, the season Epic Games launched its alternate payment method that got Fortnite kicked off the App Store.
Spencer replied that “we will get there and I want to partner with you,” and that pushing these policies was “at the highest levels” at Microsoft, but implied Xbox Live wasn’t ready to go free multiplayer just yet. “Totally understood!” said Sweeney in response. “I gather there’s a lot going on at Microsoft nowadays. Anyway, you’ll enjoy the upcoming fireworks show.”
The timing of the email is provocative, given the events that followed. Had Spencer gone along with the plan, it seems likely that Xbox could have opened up Fortnite to non-Gold subscribers at the same time that Apple was shutting out the game entirely.
The fireworks show that Sweeney promised certainly kicked off when Fortnite season 14 launched, and it has since resulted in Epic Games taking Apple to court in a trial that’s ongoing. Microsoft did eventually unlock Xbox Live free-to-play multiplayer last month, but it wasn’t as simple as Epic Games had hoped.
Microsoft’s removal of the Xbox Live Gold requirement came after the company was forced to reverse a price hike to its Xbox Live Gold subscriptions earlier this year. Microsoft had attempted to double the cost of a yearly Xbox Live Gold subscription, a move that backfired. Microsoft quickly reversed the decision and offered to remove the paywall for free-to-play multiplayer games.
Walmart’s unannounced cloud gaming service, codenamed Project Storm, has been detailed in new confidential emails. An exhibit in the Epic Games v. Apple trial reveals Walmart’s efforts to pitch its cloud gaming service to Epic Games and get Fortnite on board.
“I played Walmart’s demo on an Android phone (with an Xbox controller) and the experience felt like playing on PS4 and superior to playing on Android or iOS,” said Epic Games co-founder Mark Rein in an email thread from April 2019. Rein also excitedly shares a photo of a game clip with the rest of the Epic Games executive team, showing how Walmart was planning to sell this in stores to let a phone attach to a controller. “They’re going to sell the clip for a crazy low amount, they were saying something like $2,” said Rein.
How Walmart was building its cloud streaming service.
A presentation attached to the emails shows how Walmart had been pitching its cloud gaming service to publishers like Epic Games. The company was planning to run the service on Windows, with third-party game launchers like Steam, Uplay, Origin, Epic Games Store, Battle.net, and Bethesda Launcher supported.
It’s not clear from Walmart’s presentation when the company planned to launch the service, with a beta period originally set to launch in July 2019. An early mock-up of the user experience looks very similar to other cloud gaming services, with a list of games, genres, and a search function.
An early look at Walmart’s Project Storm service.
Walmart was planning what it describes as an “open ecosystem,” with the ability to stream from the cloud or download and play games locally. The technology behind Walmart’s cloud gaming service is LiquidSky, a service Walmart acquired. LiquidSky was previously powered by IBM Cloud’s bare metal servers and Nvidia GPUs, and it appears to offer a powerful Windows PC for cloud gaming.
Epic Games was one of many publishers to which Walmart pitched. Reports originally surfaced about Walmart’s plans in 2019, but the company has still not officially announced any cloud gaming service. Sources familiar with Walmart’s plans tell The Verge that some publishers and developers had signed up to produce or host games on Walmart’s service, but that the launch had been put on hold once the pandemic began last year.
It’s not clear if Walmart’s cloud gaming service will still launch. We reached out to Walmart to comment on Project Storm, but the company did not respond in time for publication.
Either way, Mark Rein seemed interested in Walmart’s pitch and exploring services like Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now. “Walmart is open to exploring all kinds of business models, but I expect their service will be the least expensive of all of these because they’re Walmart and that’s their gig.”
Epic Games ultimately partnered with Nvidia to launch Fortnite on GeForce Now last year. It’s currently the only way to play Fortnite on iOS, after the Epic dispute with Apple led to the removal of Fortnite from the App Store.
GPD’s latest iteration of its handheld gaming PC, the Win 3, is finally going on sale later this month. You’ll be able to grab it from multiple e-tailers such as Amazon starting May 15th or later.
The Win 3 is GPD’s latest handheld gaming device designed to run Windows 10 and play PC games. The biggest upgrade for the Win 3 over previous designs is its inclusion of a QWERTY keyboard along with gamepad controls (like joysticks, a d-pad, and triggers), all in a similar form factor as a Nintendo Switch.
The Win 3 is GPD’s first Tiger Lake-based gaming handheld, featuring an Intel Core i7-1165G7 or a Core i5-1135G7, with Intel’s big core count Xe graphics chip that comes in either an 80EU configuration (for the Core i5) or 96EUs (for the Core i7). To help boost Intel’s Xe graphics even further, the Win 3 comes with 16GB of LPDDR4x memory clocked at 4266MHz.
For the screen, GPC went with a 5.5-inch display with a resolution of 1280×720. A higher resolution isn’t really needed with such a tiny display. Plus, a 720P resolution will really help the integrated graphics push higher frame rates since it is still an integrated graphics chip, not a discrete Nvidia or AMD GPU.
If GPC’s performance metrics are to be believed, then the Win 3 is quite a capable gaming machine. In the most demanding games GPC tested, like Red Dead Redemption 2, Control, and Battlefield V, the Win 3 averaged 50FPS with the Core i5 version.
These were the worst-case scenarios as well, with other games like SEKIRO: Shadows Die Twice, World War Z, and other games maintaining 60FPS or higher, again on the Core i5 version. For the Core i7 model, frame rates were reportedly at least 10-15% better (thanks to the higher core count Xe graphics).
We don’t know what graphics details were used in these tests though so take those results with a grain of salt–and assume lots of things were turned down or off.
You will be able to grab the Win 3 from Amazon starting May 28th for $1130, Banggood for $1100 on May 15th, and IndieGoGo InDemand for $997 sometime in July. Specifically, those prices are for the i5 models; the i7 models are roughly $200 pricier.
A production keyboard that feels like a custom build, the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant offers an excellent experience for both typing and gaming. It features sterling build quality and a gorgeous aesthetic you won’t find anywhere else, but the lack of software and hot-swappable switches are disappointing.
For
+ Unique aesthetic
+ Sturdy aluminum case
+ High-quality PBT keycaps
+ Compact design for portability and desk space
Against
– Lack of software can be limiting
– No hot-swappable key switches
With its beautifully iridescent aluminum case, custom-themed PBT keycaps and excellent typing experience, the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant combines the worlds of custom and production keyboards in a unique marriage of style and substance. At $159, it’s on the expensive side but is one of the top compact keyboards available today, competing nicely with the best gaming keyboards and offering a strong productivity experience. Assuming, that is, that you jive with the two available color ways and lack of software.
Ducky has been popular among enthusiasts for a number of years, but it wasn’t until the launch of the One 2 Mini back in 2018 that it really made it to the mainstream. Since then, it’s released a number of revisions and collaborations with major gaming brands like Razer and HyperX, but the 60% form factor can be difficult to adjust to with its lack of arrows, function keys and navigation buttons.
The One 2 SF, released in 2019, answered these challenges, adding back the arrow keys and a miniaturized nav-cluster, but was quickly overshadowed by the Mecha Mini, Ducky’s widely acclaimed aluminum-chassis take on the One 2 Mini. I was lucky enough to review each of those boards, but the Mecha Mini reigned supreme with its heavy aluminum build that made typing feel so much more satisfying.
The wait for an SF version is finally over with the Mecha SF Radiant. This new keyboard one-ups the Mini version with a brand new finish and themed keycap set for a package that is unlike anything else in the mainstream market today. It isn’t without its limitations compared to the competition, but may just be the best compact keyboard Ducky has produced yet. You’ll have to move fast if you want one for yourself, though, as only 2021 will be made of this limited edition item.
The Ducky Mecha SF Radiant is a compact keyboard that aims to achieve the size benefits of a 60% keyboard while adding functionality closer to a tenkeyless. In fact, the “SF” in the name stands for “sixty-five” alluding to its 65% layout. This is a bit of a misnomer in actual size but signifies the overall design.
The Mecha SF Radiant follows the Mini by doing away with the numpad and function row, but instead of removing the nav cluster entirely, it shrinks it to a column of three keys on the right side of the board. The buttons to the right of the spacebar and the right shift have also been shrunk to make room for dedicated arrow keys, which is a boon to gamers.
The result is a keyboard that is only slightly wider than a 60% but feels much more usable. It measures 12.8 x 4.1 x 1.6 inches and looks downright small on a full-size desk. The design is ergonomically sound and allows your hands to be spaced at a much natural distance versus spread out with a full-size keyboard. It’s also helpful in first-person shooters where big mouse movements can leave you craving more space. For my part, I most enjoy the clean, minimalist aesthetic of a compact keyboard on my desk.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The layout here is slightly different than many 65% keyboards, however. Rather than featuring four buttons on the right side like the much more traditional Drop ALT, Ducky only includes three and replaces last with an embossed case badge below the bottom key. The amount of keys follows the Ducky One 2 SF, but the addition of a case badge is a direct nod to the custom keyboard community where they have become a staple. The included keys are Delete, Page Up, and Page Down. Like most other keys on the keyboard, Page Up and Page Down also carry secondary functions, in this case Home and End.
Through clever use of function commands, the Mecha SF Radiant manages to pack most of the functionality of a tenkeyless keyboard into its tiny frame. By holding the Fn button, you can access a second layer that provides access to most of the absent keys. With Fn held, the number row will send function commands. Likewise, Print Screen, Insert, and Scroll Lock all have their own dedicated combo buttons, in addition to volume control and even buttons to control the mouse pointer. Holding Fn+Alt opens up the third layer to choose lighting presets, set custom color schemes, and program macros. It’s an impressive array that adds more software-free customization than even programmable gaming keyboards from Razer and Logitech can provide, but since there are no side legends on the keycaps, it may take a while to memorize every keymap.
All of this was true of the original One 2 SF, so what really sets Mecha apart is its metal case and PBT keycaps. The case is solid aluminum and lends the keyboard weight and density which both enhance the typing experience. It’s not the heaviest keyboard I’ve used, even compared to some sixty-percents I’ve tried, but at 1.9 pounds, it’s heavier than it looks. The most striking aspect of it is the iridescent finish which shifts from teal to blue to purple depending on the angle. Ducky has dubbed this version “Ocean” but the Radiant is also available in a green “Emerald” colorway.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The shifting, transforming quality of the keyboard is striking but a bit of a double-edged sword. The keycaps have been carefully curated with three shades of blue and white, but they don’t always match the case perfectly depending on the angle you’re viewing it from. From a normal seated or standing position, it looks great. Viewed from another angle where it appears purple, it can look mismatched against the blue.
The keycaps themselves are excellent. Ducky used its usual PBT plastic, which is more durable and resistant to shine than ABS plastic. The legends are double-shot, which means they’re made of a second piece of plastic that’s bonded to the outer shell, preventing fading or chipping over time.
The walls of the caps are also delightfully thick which lends typing a solidity that’s often lacking from the thin-walled keycaps we see on most gaming keyboards. The legends aren’t shine-through, so the RGB backlight is relegated to an underglow effect that’s more for style than helping you type in the dark. As usual, Ducky includes a selection of alternate keycaps, this time all white. I was surprised to find that the alternate arrow keys actually are backlit, if only slightly. The shape of the arrow has been carved out of the second shot of plastic, allowing them to glow a dull blue in the dark.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Despite the occasional angle-based mismatch, the keycaps ultimately work to tie the look of the keyboard together. The mix of shades of blue definitely brings sea waves to mind. When installed, the injection of white along the right-hand side is reminiscent of a rolling wave. This focus on aesthetics is another quality borrowed from the enthusiast community where look and sound often rival the feel of typing itself.
Pulling back a touch, the Mecha SF Radiant features per-key RGB backlighting. As you might expect from an RGB-enabled board, it features the usual suspects in terms of lighting presets: rainbow wave mode, color cycling, breathing, reactive typing, and more totaling ten preset modes. Five can be color customized using a built-in RGB mixer on the Z, X and C keys or by activating a built-in color palette and tapping your color of choice. This is already fairly impressive, but you can also use the lighting to play a pair of games based on Minesweeper and roulette.
The lighting looks great. The Mecha SF Radiant uses a floating key design that exposes the switch housings. This creates a common but still appealing aesthetic that highlights the illumination from the sides. The LEDs are bright and the switches are mounted on a white plate which allows the colors to blend together into a seamless pool of light. Given the highly-themed keycaps and case, matching lighting is inherently more limited but I found white, tinged blue thanks to the reflection from the keycaps, to look best.
Despite the keyboard clearly targeting the middle ground between custom and production keyboards, it doesn’t offer hot-swap support to quickly change switches. This isn’t unusual for Ducky (it just released its first hot-swappable keyboard last year) but is still disappointing. One of the most fun parts of the hobby is trying out new switches and being able to quickly change the whole feel of your keyboard but that won’t be possible here.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Typing Experience on Ducky Mecha SF Radiant
The Ducky Mecha SF Radiant is available with a wide selection of Cherry MX RGB key switches. Clicky MX Blue, tactile MX Brown, and linear MX Red are all present and accounted for, but you’ll also have the choice of Cherry MX Black, MX Silver, or MX Silent Red. Each of these switches are the updated models from Cherry and are rated for 100 million actuations instead of the 50 million they were previously.
My unit was sent with Cherry MX Silent Red switches. Silent Reds are similar to standard MX Red switches in their linear travel but feature internal dampers to reduce typing noise and cushion bottom-outs. They also have a slightly reduced actuation distance of 1.9 mm and a total travel of 3.7 mm but this isn’t really perceptible in normal use. The actuation force is the same at 45 grams. Silent Reds are not my first choice of switch for this reason but are audibly quieter and a much better fit for typing or gaming at work or with a roommate nearby.
Typing on the Mecha SF Radiant is satisfying on multiple levels. The keycaps are lightly textured and felt nice against my fingers and their thick walls lent the experience a more solid, substantial feel. The pillowy bottom-outs were also very nice and allowed me to use the keyboard at work without disturbing my co-workers.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
The aluminum case itself plays an important role in the typing experience. Typing on it feels solid and dense, without much empty space inside the shell. Spring ping, which can sometimes be an issue in reverberant alloy cases, was barely audible and disappeared entirely after I lubed the switches (see our article on how to lube switches, but note that I could not remove these so only lubed them through the top). The density of the case enhanced the switch’s silencing effects.
I only wish I could have tried other kinds of switches, but if experience is any indicator, the case should lend typing a higher pitch with other switch types, though I wasn’t able to test this due to the lack of hot-swap support.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Another high-point was the stabilizers. Like most production keyboards, Ducky used plate-mount stabilizers but they came factory lubed out with absolutely minimal rattle. Gaming companies are catching up in this regard (Corsair and Razer now factory lube their stabs), so it’s good to see Ducky keeping its game strong. Stabilizers can make or break the sound of a mechanical keyboard and the Mecha SF Radiant was very good without the need for additional mods.
Transitioning to the Radiant was easy, and I didn’t lose typing speed making the jump. I went through several rounds of tests at 10fastfingers and averaged 103 words per minute. With my Drop Carina keyboard outfitted with tactile Holy Panda switches, ostensibly better for typing due to their pronounced tactile feedback, I averaged 104 words per minute.
Gaming Experience on Ducky Mecha SF Radiant
While the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant isn’t marketed as a gaming keyboard, it offered a solid gaming experience nonetheless. The form factor seems best suited to high-sensitivity shooters like CS:GO but even playing more relaxed games like Valheim, it was just as responsive and reliable as the Corsair K100 RGB Optical Gaming Keyboard I had on hand to test against.
If you prefer to have the entire keyset available to press at once, the keyboard supports n-key rollover or can be limited to only six simultaneous inputs using a DIP switch on the back. You can also permanently disable the Windows key using a second DIP switch or just while in-game using an Fn+Alt combination. The keyboard also supports customizable debounce delay from 5 – 25 ms to balance key chattering with responsiveness.
My go-to genre is first-person shooters where responsiveness reigns supreme. Even though the Mecha SF Radiant doesn’t boast an 4,000 Hz response rate like the Corsair K100, — it’s a more standard 1,000 Hz — I was hard-pressed to feel any difference in responsiveness when comparing the two keyboards0. Playing Doom Eternal, I was able to double-dash through the air, glory kill, and generally rip and tear just as if I were using a keyboard marketed explicitly for gaming.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Competitive gamers may really appreciate the condensed nature of theMecha SF Radiant. I’m used to gaming on a compact keyboard, so I spent some time “resetting” with the Corsair K100 before this review. Swapping back to the Mecha SF Radiant made playing Battlefield 5 more comfortable. Having my arms closer together felt immediately more natural. The smaller size also made it easier to manage repositioning the keyboard at a comfortable angle. The Mecha SF Radiant is small enough to move with one hand and doing the same with the K100 was cumbersome at best.
The biggest limitation I found came with World of Warcraft. MMO players and macro fans may find the compact size doesn’t lend itself well to storing lots of macros. The lack of dedicated macro keys is expected on a keyboard designed to save space, but their absence is mitigated by the column of additional keys along the right side. For gaming, these can easily be set to macro commands and thanks to built-in memory support for up to six profiles, it’s possible to maintain different key sets for different games and productivity tasks.
Programming Ducky Mecha SF Radiant
One of the greatest strengths of the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant is also its greatest Achilles heel: the lack of dedicated software. It’s an asset to the keyboard because it can be programmed on any machine, regardless of security limitations, and function the same between devices. That means you won’t be missing features because you can’t install the software. At the same time, it means programming requires multiple steps, more time, and is more limited than competing keyboards with full software suites.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
With a few different key combinations, you’re able to record macros and remap keys and even set custom lighting schemes. The keyboard supports five programmable profiles in addition to another that’s locked to default settings, so there’s plenty of latitude to create unique layouts and color schemes to match your different use cases.
In the case of macros, holding Fn+Alt+Tab for three seconds puts the keyboard into recording mode. You press the key you want to remap, enter your string, and press Fn+Alt+Tab a second time to end recording. This can also be used to change the position of different keys, though the keyboard also supports swapping the location of popular remaps like Fn, Ctrl, and Alt using another Fn+Alt+K combination.
For lighting, presets can be selected using Fn+Alt+T. The first five are color locked but the second half all allow you to customize the hue using the built-in palette or RGB mixer. The mixer allows for greater control by tapping Red, Green, and Blue values up to 10 times but takes much longer to dial in. Alternatively, Fn+Alt+Spacebar illuminates all of the keys in a rainbow and you can simply tap the color you want. Creating a custom color scheme is also possible following this same process after holding Fn+Alt+Caps Lock and tapping each key you want to illuminate a given color.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
If that sounds like a lot, it is. In comparison to opening a simple app and hitting a “record” for macros or “painting” the keys your color of choice, it’s just not as simple or intuitive. I love that it’s possible to completely customize the board without installing anything, but it demands a level of memorization that is initially frustrating.
(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)
Bottom Line
The Ducky Mecha SF Radiant isn’t the perfect compact keyboard but it is a very good one. The combination of unique looks, excellent build quality, and sterling typing experience make this an excellent choice for users not ready to take the plunge into custom mechanical keyboards. At the same time, the lack of hot-swap support or optional software really are disappointing for flexibility and ease of use. Still, the pros far outweigh the cons here and this is an incredibly solid buy if you enjoy the look.
At $159, the Radiant doesn’t come cheap. If you’re looking for an aluminum keyboard and don’t mind it coming in a larger size, the HyperX Alloy FPS Origins might be a good fit. Alternatively, if you want something compact but that still has all the bells and whistles of a high-end gaming keyboard, the Corsair K70 RGB TKL is definitely worth a look.
If you want the best of both worlds and don’t mind sticking with the switches you start with, the Ducky Mecha SF Radiant is definitely worth considering.
Just two days before Apple gets dragged into a California court to justify its 30 percent App Store fee — and two days after Microsoft axed its 30 percent cut on PC — we’re learning that gaming giant Valve is now facing down lawsuits against its own 30 percent cut and alleged anticompetitive practices with its PC gaming platform Steam.
“Valve abuses its market power to ensure game publishers have no choice but to sell most of their games through the Steam Store, where they are subject to Valve’s 30% toll,” argues indie game developer and Humble Bundle creator Wolfire Games, in a lawsuit filed Tuesday (via Ars Technica).
Much like Epic v. Apple, the new suit argues that a platform owner is using an effective monopoly over the place where people run their software (there, iOS; here, Steam) to dominate and tax an entire separate industry (alternative app / game stores), an industry that could theoretically flourish and produce lower prices for consumers if not for (Apple’s / Valve’s) iron grip.
Wolfire claims that Valve now controls “approximately 75 percent” of the entire PC gaming market, reaping an estimated $6 billion in annual revenue as a result from that 30 percent fee alone — over $15 million per year per Valve employee, assuming the company still has somewhere in the vicinity of the 360 employees it confirmed having five years ago.
As to how Valve might be abusing its power, there’s a laundry list of complaints that you might want to read in full (which is why I’ve embedded the complaint below), but the arguments seem to boil down to:
Every other company’s attempt to compete with Steam has failed to make a dent, even though many of them offered developers a bigger cut of the profits, such as the Epic Game Store’s 88-percent revenue share
Steam doesn’t allow publishers to sell PC games and game keys for less money elsewhere
That in turn means rival game platforms can’t compete on price, which keeps them from getting a foothold
Most of those rival game stores have largely given up, like how EA and Microsoft have each brought their games back to Steam
That ensures Steam stays the dominant platform, because companies that could have become competitors are reduced to simply feeding the Steam engine with their games or selling Steam keys
Wolfire says that the Humble Bundle in particular has been a victim of Valve’s practices — the lawsuit claims that “publishers became more and more reluctant to participate in Humble Bundle events, decreasing the quantity and quality of products available to Humble Bundle customers,” because they feared retaliation if Humble Bundle buyers resold their Steam keys on the grey market for cheap — and though Valve once worked with Humble Bundle on a keyless direct integration, the lawsuit claims that Valve abruptly pulled the plug on that partnership with no explanation.
As you’d expect, the lawsuit doesn’t waste much ink considering why gamers might prefer Steam to the likes of EA’s Origin or Microsoft’s Windows Store beyond the simple matter of price; I’d argue most Steam competitors have been somewhat deficient when it comes to addressing PC gamers’ many wants and needs. But that doesn’t excuse Valve’s anticompetitive practices, assuming these claims are true.
Valve didn’t respond to a request for comment.
This isn’t the first lawsuit brought against Valve; a group of individual game buyers filed a fairly similar complaint in January, and I’ve embedded the new amended version of that complaint below as well. But that earlier complaint also accused game companies alongside Valve — this new one lawsuit is by a game company itself.
Each suit is hoping to win class-action status.
Whether these plaintiffs succeed against Valve or no, the pressure is clearly mounting to reduce these app store fees across the industry, and Valve may have a harder time justifying them than most — it’s seemingly more dominant in the PC gaming space than either Apple or Google are in the smartphone one, even if there are far fewer PC gamers than phone users.
Valve also hasn’t necessarily made a huge concession to game developers so far. In 2018, Valve did adjust its revenue split to give bigger companies more money, reducing its 30 percent cut to 25 percent after a developer racks up $10 million in sales, and down to 20 percent after they hit $50 million. (Apple and Google drop their cuts to 15 percent for developers with under $1 million in sales, theoretically helping smaller developers instead of bigger ones.) But the Epic Games Store only takes 12 percent, and Microsoft’s Windows Store just copied that lead by dropping its 30 percent cut to 12 percent as well.
The EU may also add additional pressure in the future; yesterday, European Commission executive vice president Margrethe Vestager revealed it would also “take an interest in the gaming app market” following its conclusion that Apple has broken EU antitrust laws around music streaming apps. The European Commission already has Valve on its radar, too; it fined the company earlier this year for geo-blocking game sales.
It’s nigh-on impossible to find meaningful fault with Netflix
For
Excellent video quality
Big, easy-to-navigate catalogue
High quality Originals
Against
Rarely first for big film releases
Netflix just keeps on getting better, making a more compelling case for your money at every turn. It’s everything you want from a video streaming service: simple to use, available on your preferred platform and filled with content you want to watch.
But it’s now got more rivals than ever and they’ve also upped their game, so is Netflix really the best video streaming service out there?
Pricing
Netflix UK pricing and features (Image credit: Netflix)
Netflix subscriptions start at £5.99 ($8.99, AU$10.99) per month for standard-definition streams to a single screen. Up your spend to £9.99 ($13.99, AU$15.99) per month and get high-def stuff available to watch on a couple of screens simultaneously.
Or go the whole hog (provided you’ve already gone the entire pig on a 4K Ultra HD TV) and spend £13.99 ($17.99, AU$19.99) per month for 4K content on as many as four screens at a time.
MORE: How to use Netflix Party: watch Netflix with friends online
Features
It goes without saying not all content is available in HD (720p) or Full HD (1080p), let alone Ultra HD or 4K. One of the great pleasures of a Netflix subscription is happening upon classic films such as Easy Rider and old episodes of cult TV shows such as Peep Show, and it would be optimistic in the extreme to expect them to represent the state of the technological arts.
But there’s now a huge stack of 4K content available, from The Crown and Last Chance U to Shadow Bone and Snowpiercer, and that stack is forever growing.
Netflix has a continuing good relationship with Sony Pictures that also grants the streamer exclusive rights to some Sony films. There’s also the excellent Studio Ghibli oeuvre now available in most countries.
In terms of bespoke content, Netflix distances itself from any nominal competition.
Netflix now prioritises its own content to such an extent that it seems less committed to adding blockbuster films from other studios than its main rival Amazon Prime Video. And now that Disney+ is on the scene, it’ll likely never be the first streaming service to add a Disney, Marvel or Star Wars title to its catalogue. But Netflix still has a strong selection of older favourites and not-too-aged blockbusters such as, at the time of writing, Arrival and Rocketman.
And as a content provider in its own right, Netflix goes from strength to strength, whether that’s through cinematic adventures or its increasingly impressive run of excellent documentary features and series.
And if you have an HDR (High Dynamic Range) compatible TV, there’s now loads of HDR content on Netflix too. It’s not immediately obvious, as there isn’t an HDR section anywhere in the menus, but if you type HDR into the search box you’ll find a list of HDR content such as After Life, The Witcher and Lupin. You’ll see an HDR logo (or Dolby Vision logo, if your TV supports it) on relevant content.
MORE: Best 4K TVs 2021
Provided your broadband connection is up to the task, it has always been a fuss-free and stable experience, and its broad compatibility is a strong sell too.
PCs and Macs, Google Chromecast, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV devices, Roku streamers, any smart TV worth its salt, games consoles, Blu-ray players from all the big brands, tablets and phones, whether iOS, Android or Windows, are all on the menu. In fact, there’s a strong argument that if a smart device doesn’t have Netflix, it can’t really be considered smart at all. It’s certainly the first app we look for whenever testing a new streaming product.
There’s good news for mobile users too. In the early days it wasn’t possible to download anything from Netflix to watch offline. Since November 2016, though, content can be downloaded to your phone and tablet to watch, glitch free, at your leisure on the Netflix app – and it does not count toward the limit of how many screens you can watch on at the same time. You can’t download literally everything, but there’s plenty of choice and lots of the most popular content is there for you to stick on your device.
MORE: Amazon Prime Video review
Ease of use
(Image credit: Netflix)
Ergonomically, things could hardly be simpler.
Aside from the TV app’s rather retrograde A-Z keyboard (rather than QWERTY) search function, it’s straightforward to browse, create a shortlist and enjoy Netflix’s more-hit-than-miss recommendations based on your previous viewing habits.
You can establish multiple user profiles, including parental locks to prevent the kids stumbling onto Zombeavers or similar.
There are also handy and fun features such as Play Something/Shuffle Play for when you’re stuck for what to watch next, and Netflix Party to watch online with friends.
MORE: 25 Netflix tips, tricks and features
Performance
Whether 4K, Full HD or standard definition, Netflix serves video streams at exactly the sort of quality you expect. Watch a 4K HDR stream such as Formula 1 Drive to Survive on an appropriate display and it’s prodigiously detailed, vibrant and stable.
Colours pop, contrast is punchy and the sheer amount of information available for your enjoyment is thrilling. It almost goes without saying, but if you own a 4K TV or 4K projector, the top tier £14 ($18, AU$20) subscription should be considered almost compulsory.
It’s all equally high-contrast, steady-motion, fine-detail good news for Full HD too. Native 1080p content looks accomplished, though obviously the exact amount of detail revealed in dark scenes (for instance) is to an extent dependent on the source material.
MORE: 15 of the best movies of the 1990s to test your home cinema
Given a fighting chance, though, Full HD stuff such as Collateral is vivid, stable and eminently watchable. As regards standard-def stuff, you take your chances.
The majority of decent TVs – and certainly all the screens we recommend – are equipped with effective upscaling engines and won’t make you regret your partiality for schlocky thrillers such as Ravenous.
5.1 audio is now available on many titles, and Netflix serves it up in the same manner as it does pictures: robustly and positively.
Provided you have the necessary home cinema set-up (or even the right soundbar) at home, Dolby Atmos is also available on a good portion of Netflix’s own TV shows and movies. It presents an altogether more substantial and immersive sound than anything your TV’s integrated speakers can manage.
Verdict
It’s difficult to think of a downside to Netflix. Set your mind to it and you can search for plenty of films it doesn’t have, but the same is true of any movie streaming service and Netflix is better than almost all of those when it comes to the combination of original content, cherry-picked classics, video and sound quality, usability, and individual recommendations.
Disney+ will have turned many a head, but there are plenty who are left cold by the House of Mouse’s output, and, with recent price hikes to Netflix and Disney+, signing up to both services is not quite the financial no-brainer it once was.
Sure, the Premium tier (£13.99, $17.99, AU$19.99) now feels a more considerable monthly outgoing than before. All the same, if we had to live with just one video streaming service, it’s no contest. The quality, consistency and breadth of content available mean that Netflix is still king.
MORE:
Amazon vs Netflix – which is better?
9 simple ways to get better Netflix recommendations
10 of the best sports films and documentaries on Netflix UK
Best movies on Netflix
The 40 best TV shows to watch on Netflix right now
VMware updated us on its progress on making Fusion compatible with Apple’s M1 chip this week. The company said it’s committed to “delivering a Tech Preview of VMware Fusion for macOS on Apple silicon this year,” but it’s not clear if that version of the tool will support Windows 10 on Arm, because of Microsoft’s licensing terms.
This isn’t the first time VMware has warned against M1-equipped Mac owners running Windows 10 on Arm. VMWare product line manager Michael Roy said earlier this month that “It’s uncharted waters, so everyone is treading lightly… Like, you can’t even BUY Windows for ARM, and folks using it who aren’t OEMs could be violating EULA… we’re not into doing that for the sake of a press release…”
So don’t expect VMware to follow Parallels in enabling Windows 10 on Arm support for M1-equipped Macs until Microsoft gives it the go-ahead. Roy said in the official announcement that VMware has “reached out to Microsoft for comment and clarification on the matter,” and that the company is “confident that if Microsoft offers Windows on Arm licenses more broadly, we’ll be ready to officially support it.”
For its part, Microsoft seems content not to commit to bringing Windows to the latest Macs. Apple said in November 2020 that its silicon is ready for Windows; it’s simply up to Microsoft to update the operating system to natively support the M1 chip. Now we have two leading virtualization software makers either moving forward without Microsoft (Parallels) or publicly calling for a verdict on the issue (VMware).
But this week’s announcement wasn’t all about Windows. The next major update to VMware Fusion is set to support Linux-based operating systems, and that progress appears to be going well. Roy said that he could boot seven Arm-based VMs—two command-line interfaces and five full desktops “configured with 4CPU and 8GB of RAM”—on a battery-powered MacBook Air that doesn’t even include a fan.
“Of course, just booting a bunch of VMs that are mostly idle isn’t quite a ‘real world experience’, nor is it the same as doing some of the stress testing that we perform in the leadup to a release,” Roy said. “Even with that said, and note that I’m using ‘debug’ builds which perform slower, in my 12 years at VMware I’ve never seen VMs boot and run like this. So we’re very encouraged by our early results, and seriously can’t wait to get it on every Apple silicon equipped Mac out there.” (Emphasis his.)
But there are some caveats. VMware Fusion doesn’t “currently have things like 3D hardware accelerated graphics,” Roy said, “and other features that require Tools which Fusion users on Intel Macs have come to expect.” The company also doesn’t plan to offer x86 emulation via Fusion—which means M1-equipped Mac owners won’t be able to install Windows or Linux .ISOs meant for the architecture.
Roy said VMware plans to release a preview of an M1-compatible version of Fusion “before the end of this year.” The company should offer more information about its progress toward supporting Apple silicon via the VMware Technology Network and Twitter “in the coming months.” Maybe that will give Microsoft enough time to publically decide whether or not it wants to make it easier to run Windows on the latest Macs.
Organising your digital music collection, you might be struck by the number of different audio file formats in your library. Almost everyone’s heard of MP3, but what about OGG, AIFF, MQA or DSD?
If the list leaves you wondering whether all those songs studied at different universities to get such official-looking letters after their names, don’t worry. We’re here to break down the meaning of the most common music file formats, the differences between them, and why you should care.
Whether you’re listening to low-quality MP3 files, probably slightly better AAC tracks, or hi-res audio in FLAC or WAV, it’s time to understand exactly what you’re getting – and which is the best file format for you.
Read on to learn about the pros and cons of each audio file format…
File formats and codecs at-a-glance
Want to cut straight to the chase? Here’s a handy guide to all the file formats and the differences between them. If you want to know more, read on below for a more in-depth look at the differences in size, sound quality and compatibility.
AAC (not hi-res): Apple’s alternative to MP3 – stands for ‘Advanced Audio Coding’. Lossy and compressed, but sounds generally better. Used for Apple Music streaming.
AIFF (hi-res): Apple’s alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes), but not hugely popular.
DSD (hi-res): The single-bit format used for Super Audio CDs. It comes in 2.8mHz, 5.6mHz and 11.2mHz varieties, but due to its high-quality codec, it’s (mostly) impractical for streaming. Uncompressed.
FLAC (hi-res): This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata. It’s royalty-free and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums. The downside is, it’s not supported by Apple (so not compatible with Apple Music).
MP3 (not hi-res): Popular, lossy compressed format ensures small file size, but far from the best sound quality. Convenient for storing music on smartphones and iPods.
MQA (hi-res): A lossless compression format that packages hi-res files for more efficient streaming. Used for Tidal Masters hi-res streaming.
OGG (not hi-res): Sometimes called by its full name, Ogg Vorbis. A lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. The file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming.
WAV (hi-res): The standard format in which all CDs are encoded. Great sound quality but it’s uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information).
WMA Lossless (hi-res): A lossless incarnation of Windows Media Audio, but no longer well-supported by smartphones or tablets.
Best music streaming services 2021: free streams to hi-res audio
MQA audio: everything you need to know
What is DSD audio?
Compressed vs. uncompressed audio files
First, let’s talk about the three categories all audio files can be grouped into. It comes down to how compressed the data is (if at all) and as a result, how much quality or “loss” you’ll experience, as a listener.
If no compression algorithm (or codec) has been used to compress the audio within your file, two things happen: zero loss in sound quality, and soon-enough, a “startup disk full” warning on your laptop.
Essentially, an uncompressed track is a reproduction of the original audio file, where real-world signals are transformed into digital audio.
WAV vs AIFF vs FLAC: uncompressed file formats
WAV and AIFF are arguably the most popular uncompressed audio file formats, both based on PCM (Pulse Code Modulation), which is widely recognised as the most straightforward audio storage mechanism in the digital domain. Both WAV and AIFF files use similar technology, but store data in slightly different ways. They can store CD-quality or high-resolution audio files.
WAV was developed by Microsoft and IBM, hence it’s used in Windows-based platforms, and is the standard format all CDs are encoded in.
AIFF was developed by Apple as an alternative to WAV, and although not as widely popular, AIFF files have better metadata support, meaning you can include album artwork, song titles and the like.
The drawback? These babies are big. A CD-quality (16-bit, 44.1kHz) file will take around 10MB of your hard drive per minute in length.
ALAC vs FLAC vs WMA Lossless: lossless audio formats
Everyone loves a FLAC. A lossless file, the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is compressed to nearly half the size of an uncompressed WAV or AIFF of equivalent sample rate, but there should be no “loss” in terms of how it sounds. FLAC files can also provide a resolution of up to 32-bit, 96kHz, so better than CD-quality.
Other lossless audio file formats include ALAC (Apple Lossless) and WMA Lossless (Windows Media Audio). The former is a good iOS and iTunes compatible alternative to FLAC, although the files are slightly less compact than FLACs. Check for smartphone and tablet compatibility, though.
AAC vs MP3: lossy audio formats
Who’s heard of an MP3? Course you have. Steve Jobs famously pulled 1000 of them out of his pocket on 23rd October 2001. It is easily the most common audio format, and MP3s are convenient for storing music on portable players or tablets and work on almost all playback devices. But to do that, you have to lose a load of information in the process. In order to make audio files up to ten times smaller than CD quality files, some original data must be discarded, resulting in a loss of sound quality.
The bit-rate at which an MP3 is recorded also affects the sound quality. MP3s encoded at 128kbps will incur more sound loss than those encoded at 320kbps (kilobits per second, where each “bit” is essentially a “piece” of the song). Now that storage is so much cheaper, we’d avoid 128kbps at all costs, though 320kbps MP3s still have their purpose if your storage is limited – and they remain a standard on download stores.
Another lossy format is AAC (Apple’s Advanced Audio Coding) which is compressed much like an MP3, but it’s slightly more efficient and sounds better. AAC is used for Apple Music streaming (at 256kbps) and YouTube streaming.
The Vorbis format, often called Ogg Vorbis owing to its Ogg container, (the best way to think of this is that OGG is the can, Vorbis is the ring-pull) is a lossy, open-source alternative to MP3 and AAC, unrestricted by patents. Ogg Vorbis is the file format used (at 320kbps) in Spotify streaming.
If you’re sticking with lossy, it’s worth remembering this: while more “bits” usually means better sound, it depends on the efficiency of the codec in your file. Although you might notice that much of the music in your collection is encoded at 128kbps so should be much of a muchness, an MP3 will likely sound a fair bit (see what we did there?) worse than an AAC or Ogg Vorbis file, due to the inefficiency of the codec in an MP3.
What about high-resolution audio?
Unlike high-definition video, there’s no single universal standard when it comes to high-resolution audio.
However, in its simplest terms, hi-res audio tends to refer to music files which have a higher sampling frequency and/or bit depth than CD – which is specified at 16-bit/44.1kHz. Hi-res files therefore come in the form of 16-bit/96kHz or 24-bit/192kHz, for example.
So why should you care? Quite simply, hi-res audio files have a lot of extra audio information and thus sound a lot better than compressed audio formats, which lose information in the compression process. They will take up more storage space but we definitely think it’s worth the trade off.
Uncompressed files like AIFF and WAV are hi-res, as are those lossless FLAC and ALAC file formats. DSD (the somewhat niche format used for Super Audio CDs) is also hi-res, but it’s not as widely supported. When it comes to streaming, MQA is a file packing format used by the likes of Tidal Masters, which helps to bring hi-res audio to streaming services using as little bandwidth as possible.
As for playing hi-res audio, an increasing amount of products now support it. Premium portable music players such as the Award-winning Cowon Plenue D2 plus the newer and rather splendid Cowon Plenue D3 support 24-bit/192kHz WAV, FLAC, ALAC and AIFF files. Both players boast DSD128 file compatibility too – and that support is native, so DSD files aren’t converted to PCM during playback.
The Astell & Kern Kann Alpha and another 2020 Award-winner, the Astell & Kern A&futura SE200 digital audio players are like many A&K players (including the entry-level A&norma SR25) in that file support goes all the way up to 32-bit/384kHz and includes native DSD256 and MQA playback.
KEF’s new LS50 Wireless II speakers will play 24-bit/192kHz files in all their glory, and support for DSD256 is also onboard too this time, as is MQA decoding for the playback of compatible downloaded files and hi-res Tidal Masters.
Hi-res audio can also be played on most flagship Android smartphones, but you can’t play hi-res on a box-fresh iPhone. We’ve found ways around that, but it’s worth remembering that hi-res audio isn’t quite as portable as its lossy brethren – yet. You can find more info on which hi-fi products support hi-res audio here.
Which is the best audio file format for you?
The file format you choose will depend on whether storage or sound quality is your key concern, as well as which devices you intend to use for playback.
MP3s became hugely popular when storage was at a premium. Now that phones, music players and laptops have far more storage space, we think you really should be looking to use better-than-CD-quality files.
If you’re archiving your audio files, a FLAC or other lossless file might be a good shout for ripping your music, though. Lossless files strike a good balance between compression and sound quality, allowing you to listen to the best quality digital music without taking up all your storage space. Just make sure your devices are all compatible with your file format of choice.
High-resolution audio: everything you need to know
Best portable music players 2021: from budget to hi-res music
Earlier this week, we heard that Microsoft was due to make some announcements about its PC gaming store. Now, we know what changes are coming, as Microsoft is reducing its revenue cut for PC games sold through its store from 30 percent to 12 percent.
This is the same strategy that Epic Games employed when it first launched its store two years ago. From this point forward, developers bringing their games to the Microsoft Store will get a bigger share of the revenue compared to a platform like Steam, which still takes a 30 percent revenue cut for most titles.
Speaking on the change, Xbox Game Studios head, Matt Booty, said: “Game developers are at the heart of bringing great games to our players, and we want them to find success on our platforms. A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so.”
As pointed out by The Verge, the timing here is very interesting. This week, a survey of 3,000 game industry professionals revealed that the majority of developers don’t believe Steam does enough to justify its 30 percent revenue cut. With Microsoft and Epic Games now both offering a larger revenue share to developers, it puts more pressure on Valve to reduce its own cut in order to stay competitive.
Now the next issue for Microsoft is tackling the store itself. While the Xbox Game Pass (beta) app has an improved layout, the proper Microsoft Store app is still a mess. Soon, developers will be able to upload Win32 apps to the store, removing the need for UWP applications. Other overhauls to the store are also on the way, including a completely new store layout, improved install reliability and faster download speeds. All of these changes will be in place in the coming months.
“We know that we still have a lot of work to do, but based on the response from both PC gamers and PC game developers, we think that we’re headed in the right direction for this community with the investments we’re making”.
These changes to the Microsoft Store on PC will be in place starting from the 1st of August, at which point the new Store app should also be available.
KitGuru Says: With Epic Games and Microsoft now offering larger revenue cuts for developers on their PC stores, do you think Valve will adjust its business model at all to keep Steam competitive?
With COVID-19 vaccinations now rolling out in many countries across the world, in-person events are in a better position to finally return in 2022. In the tech world, we’ll be kicking this off with the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which returns to its usual format next year.
Today, the Consumer Technology Association announced that CES will be returning to its home in Las Vegas in 2022. The city has been the home of CES for 40 years but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the show had to shift to an all-digital format for 2021.
So far, roughly a thousand companies have committed to participating in CES next year, including the likes of AMD, Dell, Google, Intel, LG, Qualcomm, Samsung and more.
CES 2022 will be taking place from the 5th of January until the 8th, with media days taking place on the 3rd and 4th, two days ahead of the show opening up to everyone. As you would expect, the CTA will be reviewing guidelines for coronavirus safety measures to try and keep things as safe as possible.
Discuss on our Facebook page, HERE.
KitGuru Says: It looks like 2022 will be the year that events return to normal, starting with CES in January.
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Microsoft follows Epic’s lead, reduces Windows Store revenue cut to 12%
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