Macworld Other than the chip, the new iPad Air is identical to the old model, so there’s no reason not to jump on a clearance sale. And we’ve got an incredible one: Amazon is selling the 11-inch M2 iPad Air with 512GB of storage and 5G for $799, a massive savings of $250 on its $1,049 MSRP and the best price we’ve ever seen by far. The tablet’s 11-inch Liquid Retina display is the same gorgeous 2360x1640p screen that we’ve come to love over the years. With 500 nits of brightness, you can use this tablet pretty much anywhere you are, no matter how brightly lit the area is. On top of the fact that this is a cellular model so you can take it anywhere (with service from your wireless company), the tablet has a hefty 512GB capacity, which is quite a bit of space for apps, games, photos, and anything else you want to fill it up with. When we reviewed the M2 Apple iPad Air last year, we gave it a four-star rating, appreciating the processor and the upgraded performance, as well as the landscape front camera with Center Stage, so you’ll never be out of the frame during video calls. So forget about the M3 and go grab this incredible deal on the 11-inch cellular version of the M2 iPad Air with 512GB for $799. The M2 iPad Air has never been this cheapBuy now at Amazon

President Trump and his appointees have repeatedly stressed the need to establish “American energy dominance.”  But the White House’s profusion of executive orders and aggressive tariffs, along with its determined effort to roll back clean-energy policies, are moving the industry in the wrong direction, creating market chaos and economic uncertainty that are making it harder for both legacy players and emerging companies to invest, grow, and compete. Heat Exchange MIT Technology Review’s guest opinion series, offering expert commentary on legal, political and regulatory issues related to climate change and clean energy. You can read the rest of the pieces here. The current 90-day pause on rolling out most of the administration’s so-called “reciprocal” tariffs presents a critical opportunity. Rather than defaulting to broad, blunt tariffs, the administration should use this window to align trade policy with a focused industrial strategy—one aimed at winning the global race to become a manufacturing powerhouse in next-generation energy technologies.  By tightly aligning tariff design with US strengths in R&D and recent government investments in the energy innovation lifecycle, the administration can turn a regressive trade posture into a proactive plan for economic growth and geopolitical advantage. The president is right to point out that America is blessed with world-leading energy resources. Over the past decade, the country has grown from being a net importer to a net exporter of oil and the world’s largest producer of oil and gas. These resources are undeniably crucial to America’s ability to reindustrialize and rebuild a resilient domestic industrial base, while also providing strategic leverage abroad.  But the world is slowly but surely moving beyond the centuries-old model of extracting and burning fossil fuels, a change driven initially by climate risks but increasingly by economic opportunities. America will achieve true energy dominance only by evolving beyond being a mere exporter of raw, greenhouse-gas-emitting energy commodities—and becoming the world’s manufacturing and innovation hub for sophisticated, high-value energy technologies. Notably, the nation took a lead role in developing essential early components of the cleantech sector, including solar photovoltaics and electric vehicles. Yet too often, the fruits of that innovation—especially manufacturing jobs and export opportunities—have ended up overseas, particularly in China. China, which is subject to Trump’s steepest tariffs and wasn’t granted any reprieve in the 90-day pause, has become the world’s dominant producer of lithium-ion batteries, EVs, wind turbines, and other key components of the clean-energy transition. Today, the US is again making exciting strides in next-generation technologies, including fusion energy, clean steel, advanced batteries, industrial heat pumps, and thermal energy storage. These advances can transform industrial processes, cut emissions, improve air quality, and maximize the strategic value of our fossil-fuel resources. That means not simply burning them for their energy content, but instead using them as feedstocks for higher-value materials and chemicals that power the modern economy. The US’s leading role in energy innovation didn’t develop by accident. For several decades, legislators on both sides of the political divide supported increasing government investments into energy innovation—from basic research at national labs and universities to applied R&D through ARPA-E and, more recently, to the creation of the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, which funds first-of-a-kind technology deployments. These programs have laid the foundation for the technologies we need—not just to meet climate goals, but to achieve global competitiveness. Early-stage companies in competitive, global industries like energy do need extra support to help them get to the point where they can stand up on their own. This is especially true for cleantech companies whose overseas rivals have much lower labor, land, and environmental compliance costs. That’s why, for starters, the White House shouldn’t work to eliminate federal investments made in these sectors under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, as it’s reportedly striving to do as part of the federal budget negotiations. Instead, the administration and its Republican colleagues in Congress should preserve and refine these programs, which have already helped expand America’s ability to produce advanced energy products like batteries and EVs. Success should be measured not only in barrels produced or watts generated, but in dollars of goods exported, jobs created, and manufacturing capacity built. The Trump administration should back this industrial strategy with smarter trade policy as well. Steep, sweeping tariffs won’t  build long-term economic strength.  But there are certain instances where reasonable, modern, targeted tariffs can be a useful tool in supporting domestic industries or countering unfair trade practices elsewhere. That’s why we’ve seen leaders of both parties, including Presidents Biden and Obama, apply them in recent years. Such levies can be used to protect domestic industries where we’re competing directly with geopolitical rivals like China, and where American companies need breathing room to scale and thrive. These aims can be achieved by imposing tariffs on specific strategic technologies, such as EVs and next-generation batteries. But to be clear, targeted tariffs on a few strategic sectors are starkly different from Trump’s tariffs, which now include 145% levies on most Chinese goods, a 10% “universal” tariff on other nations and 25% fees on steel and aluminum.  Another option is implementing a broader border adjustment policy, like the Foreign Pollution Fee Act recently reintroduced by Senators Cassidy and Graham, which is designed to create a level playing field that would help clean manufacturers in the US compete with heavily polluting businesses overseas.   Just as important, the nation must avoid counterproductive tariffs on critical raw materials like steel, aluminum, and copper or retaliatory restrictions on critical minerals—all of which are essential inputs for US manufacturing. The nation does not currently produce enough of these materials to meet demand, and it would take years to build up that capacity. Raising input costs through tariffs only slows our ability to keep or bring key industries home. Finally, we must be strategic in how we deploy the country’s greatest asset: our workforce. Americans are among the most educated and capable workers in the world. Their time, talent, and ingenuity shouldn’t be spent assembling low-cost, low-margin consumer goods like toasters. Instead, we should focus on building cutting-edge industrial technologies that the world is demanding. These are the high-value products that support strong wages, resilient supply chains, and durable global leadership. The worldwide demand for clean, efficient energy technologies is rising rapidly, and the US cannot afford to be left behind. The energy transition presents not just an environmental imperative but a generational opportunity for American industrial renewal. The Trump administration has a chance to define energy dominance not just in terms of extraction, but in terms of production—of technology, of exports, of jobs, and of strategic influence. Let’s not let that opportunity slip away. Addison Killean Stark is the chief executive and cofounder of AtmosZero, an industrial steam heat pump startup based in Loveland, Colorado. He was previously a fellow at the Department of Energy’s ARPA-E division, which funds research and development of advanced energy technologies.

Google is an illegal monopolist in online advertising, a federal court has determined, in a ruling that could lead to a breakup of its ad business.Google monopolised online ads, a court determined. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ruled that Google unlawfully monopolized advertising markets. The ruling determined that Google had control over a number of advertising markets, to the level of a monopoly, which it used to its advantage.In the ruling, Judge Brinkema determined that Google's monopoly affected the market for publisher ad servers and for ad exchanges. In effect, Google was able to influence the way advertisers bought ads, as well as how much publishers sold that ad space for. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Elevating your portrait photography involves exploring lighting beyond conventional methods. Advanced lighting setups can infuse your portraits with greater depth, emotional resonance, and artistic flair, allowing you to tell richer visual stories. Here’s how you can push creative boundaries using sophisticated lighting techniques. Exploring the World of Creative Lighting Traditional three-point lighting has its merits, but innovative setups can help photographers uncover new expressions and moods. Creative lighting can transform portraits from simple captures into captivating visual narratives. Dramatic Portraits with Colored Gels Adding Emotional Depth Colored gels introduce a powerful visual component, dramatically altering the mood and atmosphere of your images. Experiment by matching gel colors to specific emotions or themes—cool blues and greens evoke calmness or introspection, while warm reds and oranges convey passion or intensity. Practical Gel Techniques Use gels selectively on rim lights to outline subjects and enhance depth or on background lights to create vivid backdrops that complement your subject’s character. Extended reading: How to use complementary colors to make your photos pop Combining Continuous and Flash Lighting Blending Movement and Clarity Integrating continuous lighting with flash can yield extraordinary results, providing both control and creative flexibility. Continuous lighting softly captures subtle movements, enhancing a portrait’s dynamism, while strategically placed flashes freeze critical details precisely. Adjusting your camera’s shutter speed allows you to blend ambient continuous light with the sharpness of the flash, offering artistic control over the balance of motion and clarity. Unconventional Modifiers for Unique Effects Explore unconventional lighting modifiers to achieve distinct effects: Reflective surfaces, mirrors, and metallic textures introduce intriguing highlights and reflections. Custom-made gobos—cut-outs or patterns placed in front of lights—can project shadows and textures onto your subject or background, adding layers of storytelling and visual interest. Fine-Tuning Your Advanced Lighting Setup Mastering Lighting Ratios Lighting ratios are crucial in controlling emotional intensity in portraits. By manipulating the strength and direction of lights, you can achieve diverse styles, from soft, evenly-lit scenes to dramatic, high-contrast visuals. Sculpting with Shadows Deliberately position lights to sculpt and highlight your subject’s features, using shadows purposefully to convey deeper emotions. Layered lighting—foreground and background illumination—creates depth and guides the viewer through your composition, enhancing narrative and visual interest. Bringing It All Together When experimenting with creative lighting techniques, remain intentional and thoughtful. The most impactful portraits are those where every lighting choice contributes meaningfully to the image’s emotional and narrative strength. Continually refine your approach, remain open to experimentation, and let your artistic vision guide your lighting decisions. Ultimately, the creative possibilities are endless—use them to leave a lasting impression with every portrait you create. The post Creative Lighting Setups to Enhance Your Portraiture appeared first on 500px.

During his recent radio show, Hideo Kojima has said that, once development on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach is complete, Kojima Productions as a studio will enter a phase. Translated by X user Genki_JPN, Kojima said that, once full development on OD and Physint have been started, Kojima Productions will enter “phase 2”. While what Kojima means when he refers to entering “phase 2” isn’t yet clear, he also said that he is unsure about his own future after work on Physint has been completed. According to Genki_JPN, Kojima said that he might make another game, or even get into making movies. Kojima also apparently intends to create anime during the studio’s “phase 2”. Further describing what “phase 1” of Kojima Productions was, Kojima clarified that it was a period for the studio to create new IP which could then get expanded on, and ultimately get a multiplatform release. Kojima also said that, since Kojima Productions is still an independent studio, he will have to make contacts to figure out what the studio’s next project will be. Physint was announced all the way back in February 2024. The title is slated to be a new stealth game helmed by Hideo Kojima and developed by Kojima Productions. Kojima has described the title as a “next-generation action espionage game.” He also revealed that full development on the game will start only after the release of Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. “Preparations are underway, but production will begin in earnest at Kojima Productions after Death Stranding 2,” Kojima said back in February. “We have extensive experience with Sony, having grown the espionage genre together for almost 30 years. Also, Sony not only does games, but also music and movies. It will definitely be a strong collaboration.” “Two years from now, I will celebrate the 40th anniversary of my game production career. I am confident that this title will be the culmination of my work.” While working with Sony on Physint, Kojima is also working with Microsoft on a horror title dubbed OD. Announced back in December 2023, OD will be exclusive to Xbox, and was announced with a trailer during The Game Awards 2023. While not too many details have been revealed so far, we do know that OD is being developed using Unreal Engine 5, and that it will make use of Microsoft’s cloud technology. In true Kojima fashion, OD will also feature real-world actors taking on the roles of in-game cahracters, including Sophia Lillis, Hunter Schafer, and Udo Kier. While development on Death Stranding 2: On the Beach has been progressing, back in January, Kojima also mentioned the hiccups facing the development of OD and Physint owing to the SAG-AFTRA strike at the time. He expressed hopes to resume development on both titles this year, however. In the meantime, Death Stranding 2: On the Beach will be coming to will be coming to PS5 on June 26. Check out details that Kojima has revealed about the Japanese bokka couriers that inspired the gameplay of Death Stranding making an appearance in the sequel. Hideo Kojima says after DS2 and OD, he will enter "phase 2" of Kojima Productions with PHYSINT!He says after PHYSINT he doesn’t know whether the next project he does will be a movie or a game. via @koji10_tbs pic.twitter.com/M56zKfCaTF— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) April 11, 2025 Kojima says part of phase 1 was creating new IP, expanding that IP and then making it multiplatform. He says Koji Pro is an indie studio and don’t have much money so have to make contracts for their next project while they are working on their current projects.— Genki✨ (@Genki_JPN) April 12, 2025

Watch These Elephants Form an ‘Alert Circle’ as an Earthquake Shakes San Diego, Protecting Their Young at the Center Footage from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park shows the large mammals huddling together around the herd’s calves Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park huddled together, facing outward, in a behavior called an "alert circle" after an earthquake hit. Screenshot via San Diego Zoo Safari Park When a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook their enclosure on Monday, a group of African elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park instinctively sprang into action to protect each other. The moment was caught on the camera as the quake rocked Southern California, offering a rare glimpse at how elephants react to danger. In the footage, the large mammals run around initially, then older elephants Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi move to form a ring around calves Zuli and Mkhaya, in what experts call an “alert circle.” Zuli tries to stay on the outside with the adults, in an apparent attempt to act courageously. His mother and another elephant who helped raise him pat him with their trunks, as if to say: “Things are OK,” and “stay back in the circle,” as Mindy Albright, a curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, tells Julie Watson at the Associated Press. Elephants are highly social animals, says Joshua Plotnik, an animal behavior researcher at Hunter College, to NPR’s Rebecca Rosman. Their instinct to band together is clear in the formation of the circle. “They bunch together, the adults on the outside facing out, and then they’ll push the younger individuals into the middle,” he says.Such a behavior is “a natural response to perceived threats that helps protect younger elephants and the herd as a whole,” writes the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on social media. “It’s so great to see them doing the thing we all should be doing—that any parent does, which is protect their children,” adds Albright to the AP. Research indicates African elephants can sense vibrations through their ears and feet. The massive animals create low-frequency seismic vibrations in the ground as they walk and vocalize. Other elephants may pick up on these signals, offering a long-distance form of communication. This ability likely helped them react to the quake. “For them to just be so in tune with their environment and paying attention to the environmental cues, it’s really something that you want to see them still hone in on,” Albright says to Kasha Patel at the Washington Post. “It’s a measure of their health to see them respond like this.” The footage is also a reminder of how much we still have to learn about the animals, adds Plotnik to NPR—and the importance of protecting them. African elephant populations have seen a drastic decline over the last 50 years. Asian elephant numbers, meanwhile, have dropped by half in three generations. “The Asian and African elephants are in imminent danger of going extinct, and it’s crucially important that we continue to learn more about their behavior and cognition if we’re going to come up with ways to protect them and conserve them in the wild,” Plotnik says to NPR. The behavior recently caught on video can offer scientists insight into elephants’ social responses to threats. An aftershock hit San Diego about an hour after the video was taken, and the animals repeated the behavior, according to the AP. But they went back to their daily lives once everything seemed safe. After the quake, the zoo writes, it was “business as usual” for the elephants again. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Presented by NVIDIA The AI revolution is accelerating driven by billion-parameter reasoning models needed to develop agentic and physical AI. As NVIDIA founder and CEO Jensen Huang shared in his GTC keynote, the move from training to full-production inference is causing AI compute demand to skyrocket as data centers worldwide transform into AI factories designed to churn out millions of user queries efficiently and effectively. To meet this $1 trillion opportunity, NVIDIA at GTC unveiled major advancements – from the Blackwell Ultra AI platform and an operating system for AI factories to advancements in networking, robotics and accelerated computing. Blackwell is already in full production — delivering an astonishing 40x performance boost over Hopper. This architecture is redefining AI model training and inference, making AI applications more efficient and more scalable. And coming second-half 2025 is the next evolution of the Blackwell AI factory platform: Blackwell Ultra — a powerhouse GPU with expanded memory to support the next generation of AI models. NVIDIA continues to move fast, committed to an annual AI architecture refresh. NVIDIA Vera Rubin is designed to supercharge AI data center performance and efficiency. Beyond GPUs, AI infrastructure is undergoing a seismic shift with innovations in photonics, AI-optimized storage and advanced networking. These breakthroughs will dramatically enhance scalability, efficiency and energy consumption across massive AI data centers. Meanwhile, physical AI for robotics and industry is a colossal $50 trillion opportunity, according to Huang. From manufacturing and logistics to healthcare and beyond, AI-powered automation is poised to reshape entire industries. NVIDIA Isaac and Cosmos platforms are at the forefront, driving the next era of AI-driven robotics. Some of the NVIDIA announcements at GTC NVIDIA Roadmap: The NVIDIA roadmap includes Vera Rubin, tobe released in the second half of 2026, followed by the launch of Vera Rubin Ultra in 2027. The Rubin chips and servers boast improved speeds, especially in data transfers between chips, which is a critical feature for large AI systems with many chips. And scheduled for 2028 is Feynman, the next architecture to be released, making use of next-gen HBM memory. DGX Personal AI computers: Powered by the NVIDIA Grace Blackwell platform, DGX Spark and DGX Station are designed to develop, fine-tune and inference large models on desktops. They’ll be manufactured by a number of companies, including ASUS, Dell and HP. Spectrum-X AND Quantum-Xnetworking platforms: These silicon photonics networking switches help AI factories connect millions of GPUs across sites, and reduce energy consumption dramatically. The Quantum-X Photonics InfiniBand switches will be available later this year, and Spectrum-X Photonics Ethernet switches will arrive in 2026. Dynamo Software: Released for free, open-source Dynamo software helps speed the process of multi-step reasoning, improving efficiency and reducing time to innovation in AI factories. NVIDIA Accelerated Quantum Research Center: A Boston-based research center will provide cutting-edge technologies to advance quantum computing in collaboration with leading hardware and software makers. NVIDIA ISAAC GR00T N1: A foundational model for humanoid robots, GR00T N1 is the world’s first open, fully customizable foundation model for generalized humanoid reasoning and skills. It has a dual system similar to reasoning models, for both fast and slow thinking.   Newton Physics Engine: NVIDIA also announced a collaboration with Google DeepMind and Disney Research to develop Newton, an open-source physics engine that lets robots learn how to handle complex tasks with greater precision. These are just the highlights —don’t miss the full GTC recap, live on NVIDIA’s blog. Sponsored articles are content produced by a company that is either paying for the post or has a business relationship with VentureBeat, and they’re always clearly marked. For more information, contact sales@venturebeat.com.

Cire Games has broken cover after receiving financing through the Oculus Publishing Ignition fund.

On the outside, Framework’s new Laptop 13 looks about the same as it has for the past four years. But the modular, upgradable, easily-repairable laptop has changed plenty where it counts: on the inside. It’s getting a chip bump for 2025, which would normally be pretty boring for any other laptop. But for the Framework, an improvement for new users is also an upgrade for anyone who’s bought one since 2021. That’s the beauty of a Framework: A new model means a whole new processor and main board you can drop into the computer you already own.Now equipped with AMD Ryzen AI 300-series chips, the Laptop 13 continues to deliver on a longshot promise Framework made years ago, offering a laptop that allows you to pick your ports and replace nearly every component — from RAM and the SSD to a different keyboard, small cosmetic touches, and even a new screen. Its design may be nearly unchanged, but where other laptops make us feel lucky to get a user-accessible M.2 SSD slot, the Framework 13 allows you to build to your own spec.9Verge Score$899The GoodStill the repairability champ with excellent, modular port selectionFaster CPU performance over both Intel and previous AMD modelsHigh-res 3:2 aspect ratio screen is great for productivityThin, light, and an overall great packageThe BadRadeon 860M iGPU performance is a little lackingTrackpad still feels a little cheapScreen is a little lacking in contrast and color qualityLess repairable laptops offer more for similar prices or less$899 at FrameworkHow we rate and review productsComponent report card:Screen: CWebcam: BMic: CKeyboard: BTouchpad: CPort selection: ASpeakers: CNumber of ugly stickers to remove: 0The biggest change for the 2025 Framework Laptop 13 is its AMD chip offerings, which now start prebuilt with the Ryzen AI 5 340 for $1,099, the Ryzen AI 7 350 starting at $1,529, and the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 from $2,099. The mainboards are also available separately, for people who already have a Framework 13; at $449 for the Ryzen 340, $699 for the 350, and $999 for the HX 370.Our review unit is a DIY Edition with the AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 chip, 32GB of RAM, 1TB SSD, an optional 120Hz 2880 x 1920 matte display, and a couple translucent bezels (I opted to install the green one for a touch of Halo vibes). The Laptop 13 has four expansion card slots, and my review unit came with five swappable cards: two USB-C, one USB-A, DisplayPort, and an ethernet jack that juts out from the thin chassis.Aside from some new color options for the bezel and the expansion cards, the laptop looks identical to previous generations. It has some tiny updates: Wi-Fi 7, a new thermal cooling system with a larger heatpipe, and a tiny refinement to the keyboard preventing longer keys from buzzing when blasting the speakers. The Framework’s speakers are mid at best, but somebody must be jamming out enough to get the friggin’ keys rattling. My review unit also includes updates Framework introduced with its Intel Core Ultra model last year, like the 120Hz screen and an improved webcam, both available as upgrades for existing laptops.The new AMD Framework 13 atop the last-gen AMD and Intel models. If not for the orange USB-C port even I wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.Like the last-gen AMD model, the new Framework 13’s four USB-C-based expansion slots aren’t all the same speed. The rear two slots support USB4 while the front two are USB 3.2. All four support DisplayPort, though the left front one is DP 1.4 while the rest are 2.0. So, yes, you can potentially push video out to four displays. The Intel model doesn’t have these limitations; all four of its expansion slots support USB4.I recommend the DIY Edition, even if you’re not the tinkering type. It’s less expensive and gives you more configuration options. It’s also the cheapest way to get the 120Hz screen — the prebuilts only come with the 60Hz display. Setting up our DIY review unit was simple and fun. It took me around 30 minutes to open it up, clip in the RAM, screw in the M.2 SSD, and attach the keyboard deck and magnetic bezel. Even if you’re completely new to this, Framework’s step-by-step guides, with clear pictures and video clips, make it a breeze. It took longer to set up Windows 11 the way I like it.On the right: whichever ports you want.On the left: whichever ports you want.The new Framework remains a handsome little laptop. Its 3:2 screen aspect ratio is great for productivity, giving you more vertical space than the more common 16:9 and 16:10 screens, and its battery lasts through a full eight-hour work day. It feels just as snappy as the last-gen Intel and AMD models, with a touch of added smoothness at 120Hz when plugged in (by default, Windows bumps you down to 60Hz on battery, though you can override this). Its trackpad remains squarely in the passable-to-fine range, but it still feels ripped from a cheaper laptop. I never had any issues with rattling keys on the previous-gen models (I guess I was never cool enough to pump the speakers loud enough), but I continue to enjoy the Framework’s keyboard. It has 1.5mm of key travel that feels good overall, though a touch spongier than I’d prefer.I rarely hear the fan using Slack and Google Docs with dozens of Chrome tabs open, and it just gets a little warm to the touch on its underside. (The fan also doesn’t seem to spin up randomly as often as the Intel model does.) The eight-core AMD Ryzen AI 7 350 chip is up to 22 percent faster than the last Framework models in multicore CPU performance, though it falls a little short for graphics work due to its less powerful integrated GPU. The 350 chip’s Geekbench 6.4 GPU score is 34 percent lower than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H model, and 23 percent lower than the last-gen AMD model with Ryzen 7 7840U. But the Framework 13 is also available with the Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 for $430 more; that’s the same Strix Point chip we’ve seen in the Asus Zenbook S 16, among others, with a much more powerful integrated GPU than either of the old Frameworks.SystemFramework Laptop 13 (2025) / Ryzen AI 7 350 / 32GB / 1TBFramework Laptop 13 (2023) / Ryzen 7 7840U / 16GB / 512GBFramework Laptop 13 (2024) / Core Ultra 7 155H / 16GB / 512GBAsus Zenbook S 16 (2024) / Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 / 32GB / 1TBMacBook Air 13-inch M4 (2025) / 10C / 8C / 16GB / 256GBGeekbench 6 CPU Single28992563242228283775Geekbench 6 CPU Multi1356811199118601356514899Geekbench 6 GPU (OpenCL)2498132589376413599130701Cinebench 2024 Single116101101113171Cinebench 2024 Multi832786683998736PugetBench for Premiere Pro30582744264834044612PugetBench for Photoshop880566496012734810163Sustained SSD reads (MB/s)5279.215088.615041.015060.842910.04Sustained SSD writes (MB/s)4967.274004.763769.643665.422115.57Shadow of the Tomb Raider (1080p Highest)262925not tested30Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Native Highest)122119not testednot testedThe Ryzen AI 350 is powerful enough for light-duty Photoshop and Lightroom Classic work, but the Framework 13’s screen — while passable — is just a little too washed out for color-dependent tasks. I love that this 2880 x 1920 matte panel is 120Hz, but the color and contrast are lackluster, like Framework’s original 60Hz, 2256 x 1504 display that’s still the only option for prebuilts. The 2880 x 1920 panel gets pretty bright at 500 nits, but color quality is squarely in the mediocre range.Framework’s configurator prices our review unit at $ 1,781 (not counting a Windows 11 license). That’s well into entry-level M4 MacBook Pro territory and about the same as a bigger Asus Zenbook S 16 with the HX 370 CPU; Framework charges $2,099 for a prebuilt with that chip. The $999 M4 MacBook Air blows the Framework 13’s chips out of the water in single-core performance, has a nicer screen, and lasts much longer on battery. But there’s no upgrading anything in a MacBook after you order it — ever.1/12The DIY Edition comes mostly assembled. You just clip in RAM, plug in / screw down the SSD, insert the keyboard deck, screw in the bottom plate, and drop in a magnetic bezel. It’s even easier than all of this sounds.If you value repairability and upgradability in a laptop, there’s no competition for the Framework 13. I’m a big fan of what this company stands for, and with the Framework 13, it continues to deliver on its promise of a modular, repairable, upgradeable laptop.Sure, some of the components in the Framework 13 are middling for the money. But no other laptop maker launches new models alongside standalone parts that existing owners can buy to upgrade their laptops. Imagine if Apple let M1 MacBook Air owners buy just the M4 mainboard when it launched, instead of a whole new laptop? What began as an unproven startup in 2021 has matured into an intriguing and viable alternative to the big laptop brands and a standard-bearer for the right to repair. The Framework Marketplace was once a ghost town, but now it’s brimming with replacement parts and at-the-ready upgrades. The Framework Laptop 13 is a proven platform now. The fates of the company’s upcoming Desktop and budget 12-inch laptop are less clear. Will they be enduring hits like the Laptop 13 despite ongoing tariff chaos? Or will they be ongoing, unproven experiments, like the Laptop 16? I can’t say yet, but the more modular, the merrier.2025 Framework Laptop 13 specs (as reviewed)Display: 13.5-inch (2880 x 1920) 120Hz IPSCPU: AMD Ryzen AI 7 350GPU: integrated RadeonRAM: 32GB LPDDR5XStorage: 1TB M.2 PCIe Gen 4 NVMeWebcam: 1080p with privacy shutterConnectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.2Ports: 4x modular ports for Framework Expansion Cards, tested with 2x USB4, USB-A 3.2, DisplayPort, RJ45 ethernetBiometrics: fingerprint sensorWeight: 2.87 poundsDimensions: 11.68 x 9.01 x 0.62 inchesBattery: 61WhPrice: $1,781Photography by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The VergeSee More:

Rebel Fork Game Engine / News, Reviews / April 17, 2025 / C++, Engine The Rebel Fork, or rbfx Game Engine, is an open source C++ based game engine forked from the Urho3D game engine. Urho3D ran into a community schism back in 2023 that effectively ended the development on that game engine. Part of the community behind Urho3D created the Rebel Fork, also known as rbfx engine. Features of rbfx include: Free and Open Source Software, and it will stay this way; Suitable for 3D games and applications; Moderately lightweight and modular; Supported for Windows, Linux, MacOS, Android, iOS, Web and XBox (via UWP); Just a C++ library with a couple of tools; There are optional experimental C# bindings. Key Links Rebel Fork GitHub Repository Rebel Fork Homepage C++ Template C# Template Discord Server You can learn more about the Rebel Fork or rbfx game engine in the video below. You can learn about the most popular C++ game engines for game development in 2025 in this guide.