From fiber to cable, Kingman residents have plenty of internet options. Here are our experts’ top picks.

Four friends, four phones, one video game. This is how you bring board game night into the digital age.

And Sydney Sweeney will join the ride.Not pictured: Michael Bay and Sydney SweeneyAfter Sonic, Mario and now Minecraft, the movie industry has developed a serious appetite for all sorts of video game adaptations. Although not all of them have been a roaring success (spare a moment for Borderlands), most of them are generally raking it in at the box office.Read the full article on nintendolife.com

StrictlyVC is heading to London on May 13, uniting top investors and entrepreneurs to spark meaningful connections and drive forward innovation. We’re thrilled to welcome industry leaders like Nazo Moosa, general partner at Paladin Capital Group; Sonali De Rycker, partner at Accel; and TS Anil, CEO of Monzo Bank, to the stage. Paladin is proud to partner with TechCrunch to bring this exclusive StrictlyVC event to London. This is the room to ask your burning questions, share your perspective, and engage directly with some of the most influential voices shaping the future of tech and venture capital. Secure your spot for insider conversations with top names in tech and venture capital. Inside the StrictlyVC London agenda: Sessions + speakers Building Resilient Tech Ecosystems: Investing in Cybersecurity, AI, and Deep Tech Join Paladin’s Nazo Moosa as she shares how strategic investments in cybersecurity, AI, and resilience are powering the next generation of secure, sustainable innovation. Image Credits:Daniel Jones Photography Nazo MoosaGeneral Partner, Paladin Capital Group Backing the Breakouts: Finding Europe’s Next Global Tech Leaders Sonali De Rycker breaks down how she spots and scales standout startups — from early stage to global growth — and where she’s placing her next bets in a fast-moving tech landscape. Image Credits:Accel Sonali De RyckerPartner, Accel Reimagining Banking: TS Anil on Monzo’s Journey from Startup to Powerhouse Hear how TS Anil turned Monzo into a fintech success story. From navigating tough beginnings to hitting profitability, he shares lessons in scaling, strategy, and staying customer-obsessed. Image Credits:Monzo Bank TS AnilCEO, Monzo Bank Save your seat for exclusive VC insights from the top investors in Europe We rarely bring StrictlyVC to London. This one — presented with Paladin Capital Group — is your chance to join the inner circle of VCs and founders. Space is limited. The room will be full. Don’t miss it. Register your seat here.

Back in 2020, Xayn was a privacy-based, on-device AI startup designed specifically for smartphones. But that early experience eventually saw the company pivot into developing sovereign AI for the legal sphere. Now Xayn has rebranded as Noxtua and raised a $92.2 million (roughly €81.2 million) Series B round. The round was led by strategic investor C.H. Beck, Germany’s leading legal publisher. For context, C.H. Beck effectively owns the repository of all legal cases and judgments in Germany, giving it a unique position. The idea is that Noxtua will have access to its entire archive and legal news wire for its new legal AI product dubbed Beck-Noxtua. Additional new investors on board include high-performance computing specialist Northern Data Group, Germany’s largest business law firm CMS, and global law firm Dentons. Previous and existing investors include Global Brain, KDDI Open Innovation Fund, and Dominik Schiener.  The addition of Northern Data is no coincidence. Beck-Noxtua will run as a sovereign AI on that company’s cloud infrastructure, which is contained within Germany.  Noxtua claims its highly specialized AI can research legal matters and analyze and draft legal documents, all in a legally compliant manner for customers including those based in Germany. This is important because the bar for legal compliance in Germany is extremely high, making the training data from C.H. Beck absolutely crucial for accuracy. It includes 55 million documents — the largest legal database in the German-speaking world. With geopolitics casting a shadow over the idea of running Germany-based AI models on U.S.-based infrastructure, Noxtua inked the hosting partnership with Northern Data, which is based in Frankfurt.  Dr. Leif-Nissen Lundbæk, CEO and Co-Founder of Noxtua, told TechCrunch over a call that Noxtua uses its own version of a transformer AI model, but one trained specifically on legal contracts. “We’ve already rolled it out to a lot of law firms and legal departments and partnered with C.H. Beck,” he said, “[which is] effectively the ‘Thompson Reuters for law’ in Germany.” Lundbæk said Noxtua had to take this route as U.S.-based foundational models are based on American data, partially also U.K. data, and contracts. “This is very different in countries like Germany or France,” he added. “Those models really fail in precision. Plus, government services are essentially legal, right? So you cannot just use an American AI model in a German legal context.” Noxtua’s technology was developed out of research undertaken by the founders at the University of Oxford and Imperial College London, and later developed with CMS.  In a statement, Professor Dr. Klaus Weber, member of the executive board at C.H. Beck, said, “Noxtua’s vision of a sovereign European legal AI aligns hand in hand with our values … Noxtua is a cornerstone of our innovation strategy.”

The Agentic Identity Hub from Descope provides a framework that addresses many of these needs while requiring organizations to design their AI agent governance models thoughtfully.

Discover how businesses are pouring billions into emotion-detection technology despite serious ethical questions about privacy and manipulation.

Forward-looking: CATL has announced a series of breakthroughs that could reshape the EV industry, promising batteries that are cheaper, lighter, faster to recharge, and more resilient in extreme temperatures, all while extending driving range. The company, which supplies a third of the world's EV batteries to major automakers including GM and Tesla's Shanghai plant, unveiled these just ahead of the Shanghai Auto Show. At a press event reminiscent of a high-profile car launch, China's leading battery maker CATL detailed innovations that could bring electric cars closer to price and performance parity with their gasoline-powered counterparts within the next few years. Batteries account for at least a third of an EV's cost, making CATL's progress particularly significant for automakers worldwide. One of the most notable developments is CATL's new approach to auxiliary batteries. Traditionally, EVs have relied on a single large battery pack, but CATL's design introduces a secondary battery that shares space in the vehicle's underbody. This auxiliary battery is the first commercially available EV battery to eliminate graphite from one of its poles, which could eventually reduce costs and increase energy density by 60 percent per cubic inch. According to Gao Huan, CATL's chief technology officer for EVs in China, this innovation could either extend a car's range or allow for smaller battery packs, freeing up more passenger space. The auxiliary battery also serves as a backup, an increasingly important feature as more vehicles adopt self-driving technologies that demand uninterrupted power supplies. // Related Stories CATL's co-president for research and development, Ouyang Chuying, indicated that these graphite-free batteries could appear in production vehicles within two to three years, though he declined to name specific automakers. However, the company acknowledged that removing graphite comes with trade-offs, namely that such batteries recharge more slowly and have a shorter lifespan. CATL has also made strides in charging speed for its main batteries. The latest iteration of its flagship Shenxing battery cell can add 520 kilometers (about 320 miles) of range with just five minutes of charging, surpassing even the recent advancements announced by rival BYD and placing CATL ahead of Western competitors like Tesla and Mercedes-Benz. The second-generation Shenxing battery offers an 800-kilometer range on a single charge, achieving a peak charging speed of 2.5 kilometers per second. CATL's Gao emphasized that the new batteries do not compromise on energy density and are slated to be installed in more than 67 electric vehicle models this year. In addition to lithium-based innovations, CATL is pushing forward with sodium-ion battery technology. The company's new Naxtra brand of sodium-ion batteries, set to enter mass production in December, promises over 90 percent charge retention even at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius. This makes them especially attractive for vehicles operating in the frigid climates of northern China, where traditional lead-acid batteries often fail. The first customer for these batteries will be freight trucks from First Auto Works, based in Changchun, a region known for its harsh winters. Sodium-ion batteries are considered a safer and more affordable alternative to lithium-based cells, largely because sodium is abundant and inexpensive. The new Naxtra battery boasts an energy density of 175 watt-hours per kilogram, nearly matching the widely used lithium iron phosphate batteries. CATL's founder, Robin Zeng, has suggested that sodium-ion batteries could eventually replace up to half of the market for lithium iron phosphate batteries, which the company currently dominates. Beyond technical specifications, CATL has demonstrated the safety of its sodium-ion batteries through rigorous stress tests, including puncturing and cutting the cells without causing fires or explosions – a notable shift from the company's stance just five years ago. These batteries are also being positioned as a solution for internal combustion vehicles, offering compatibility with existing electrical systems, though some models may require modifications to accommodate the new battery size. CATL's rapid pace of innovation comes even as the company faces increased competition and market pressures. Last month, the company reported a 15 percent growth in net profit for 2024, its slowest rate in six years, amid a prolonged price war in China's EV market. Still, with over 18 million cars equipped with its batteries operating in more than 66 countries, CATL's influence on the future of electric mobility remains formidable.

Table of Contents Table of Contents Meet the Oppo Imaging Lab in Binhai Bay Industry standard testing and carrier-standard testing Testing HDR performance at different lights and lengths Testing for great portraits and skin tones There’s much more to it, but it’s certainly working For almost a decade, we’ve lived in an incredible era of smartphones. Phones do considerably more than they did eight years ago when the original iPhone launched, and nowhere is this more apparent than in smartphone cameras. From single cameras — and occasionally double — in the pre-smartphone era, we’ve now descended into an era where three and four cameras are commonplace on smartphones. Instead of being focused on a subject immediately in front of you, the best smartphone cameras now allow you to zoom in or out, take incredible portrait photos, and record high-quality professional video. Recommended Videos The age-old adage that the best camera is the one you have with you at that moment may not have always applied in the past, but the current crop of best smartphone cameras has led to the greatest era of smartphone photography.  Related However, have you ever wondered how we got here? How is your smartphone camera tested, and what’s led to the incredible photos that you can take with your phone? I flew to China to find out, and here’s what I discovered! Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends As part of my recent trip to China for the Oppo Find X8 Ultra launch, Oppo flew us from Xi’an to Shenzhen on the final day, allowing us to visit the company’s new Binhai Bay campus. It’s a vast building that isn’t even complete yet, but the company has already begun moving certain parts of the company into the building. Located just under an hour from the Bao’an district near Shenzhen airport, one of these parts is the Oppo Imaging Lab, where the company is heavily focused on testing the next generation of its smartphone cameras.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Over the past two years, Oppo and its sister company, OnePlus, have put out some of the best all-around smartphone cameras. The Oppo Find X8 Pro, released last October, can take excellent photos even at 60x zoom, while the OnePlus 13 brought many of the same capabilities to the US market.  Most recently, the Find X8 Ultra has proven it can capture fantastic photos at every focal length, with a particular strength in taking HDR and portrait photos. The latter is outstanding, with the phone capable of taking pictures with fantastic bokeh at every focal length, and the fastest autofocus I’ve used on a phone. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Our visit to Oppo’s new headquarters campus provided a behind-the-scenes look at four tests the company uses to develop and test its smartphone camera. As it was a very short visit, we focused on how it performed for photos captured with the rear cameras. However, the company did mention that it uses similar testing methods for video, Zoom, and even the front-facing camera.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends The first test utilizes industry-standard testing charts and a light box to evaluate the camera’s performance under various lighting conditions. Crucially, using a set of standardized testing charts that can be cycled through electronically, meaning it’s much easier to compare results against the competition. I’ve previously used similar testing charts to test cameras objectively, and they are particularly effective in providing a quantifiable metric that allows for direct comparison of the results. However, they don’t cater to variations in features such as skin tone or more advanced features within a camera. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Of course, while companies test against industry-standard tests, they must also ensure that smartphone cameras comply with carrier testing standards.  Many carriers globally have stringent testing standards that often surpass the requirements highlighted in objective testing, such as these metrics. For this, Oppo uses a series of charts and tests devised by T-Mobile. These tests are very similar to industry-standard tests, but they have subtle differences in the metrics used to determine whether a test is passed or failed. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends It’s only in the past few years that we’ve come to expect excellent high dynamic range (HDR) performance from smartphone cameras. Smartphone cameras can now replicate — and often surpass — the high dynamic range (HDR) effects that some cameras achieve. With standards such as HDR10, HDR10+, HDR Vivid, and Ultra HDR to conform to, a significant amount of testing is required to meet these standards. Oppo’s answer is a series of tests that run automatically and take seven hours per lens. That means for the Find X8 Ultra, it took 28 hours of testing to test HDR performance on the rear camera, which is no mean feat. However, as I later discovered, the actual number of testing hours is considerably higher. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends The HDR testing lab features automated tracks with a smartphone gimbal rig that can move back and forth to different focal lengths as part of the test suite. There’s a variety of other charts captured, many of which feature subtly different shades of gray, white, and black. There are also some colored charts. Under the supervision of a human operator, this test ensures that your phone can accurately meet the different HDR standards. It also ensures that it can accurately reflect different shades of gray, white, and black, which was previously a significant challenge for smartphone cameras. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends One of the largest challenges for any smartphone camera is how to handle a variety of skin tones, especially when one or more of these is present in the same photo.  The Find X8 Ultra features a true chroma sensor that can detect up to 40 different color temperatures in a single scene. However, Oppo also conducts extensive testing in its lab to ensure that the regular camera lenses can accurately identify different skin tones and shades. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends It achieves this in two testing labs that simulate capturing portrait modes of different people with various skin tones in various environments. Featuring another set of tracks, the test lab features multiple portrait heads and a series of simulated environments for testing. Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends The testing cycle changes both the heads and their positions relative to the smartphone camera, as well as the surrounding environment, and the colors, white balance, and tones. The goal is to replicate as many different and challenging scenarios as possible, and see how the smartphone camera ultimately reacts to these.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends It was fascinating to see this first-hand, because if one thing is clear, it’s that Oppo’s recent smartphone cameras prove its approach to testing is working. In a separate Q&A, the company also revealed that this is just a small part of what goes into building and testing its smartphone cameras. First, the testing results will inevitably lead to subtle tweaks to the processing algorithm. This then needs further testing, so the 28 hours of HDR testing could quickly double or more in total testing hours, just for that feature.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Similarly, there are numerous other advanced camera features that require testing separately. While many of these are tested in similar labs to this one, our limited time allowed us to focus only on these specific test labs and features. However, Oppo did confirm that it has many more testing labs similar to this one, with each set up in slightly different ways to test other features, such as recording video, using the front-facing camera, or even the autofocus speeds. The incredibly interesting part? This approach to testing is working. Alongside lab testing, numerous additional hours are spent manually testing the performance of a smartphone camera against its chief competitors, whether from Oppo or a rival phone maker.  Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends After thousands of total testing hours, photos like the ones above prove that this approach is effective: the Find X8 Pro, Find X8 Ultra, OnePlus 13, and even the new Find X8s series all feature phenomenal smartphone cameras that surpass the competition in many ways. In particular, the Find X8 Ultra ranks top in many categories, at least based on my testing over the past few weeks. I look forward to seeing how Oppo’s cameras continue to evolve and exploring more of these labs during a future visit to China. Editors’ Recommendations

It lacks the high production values present in so many of today’s YouTube videos, but then Jawed Karim wasn’t aiming for anything slick. It was merely a little something to launch his new video streaming site. Filmed at San Diego Zoo by a friend and posted on April 23, 2005, Karim says straight to camera: “All right, so here we are in front of the elephants. The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long trunks, and that’s cool, and that’s pretty much all there is to say.” The clip, titled Me at the Zoo, lasts a mere 17 seconds and has been viewed more than 350 million times. Not bad for an elephant video.  Related Within 18 months, Google had seen the potential of the fast-growing site and acquired the platform for $1.65 billion. The deal has since proven to be highly valuable as YouTube now generates more than $35 billion annually in ad revenue alone. On that April day 20 years ago, a mere 17 seconds of video was uploaded to YouTube. These days, up to 500 hours of video are uploaded to the site every single minute, which amounts to an astonishing 82 years of content added daily. The most-viewed video on the platform is currently Baby Shark Dance. The children’s song video was uploaded to YouTube eight years ago and has since amassed more than 13.5 billion views. The platform is also filled with content made by talented creators who are able to make a living out of their efforts. And there are still lots of cat videos on it, too. Despite having 5.34 million subscribers, Karim, who founded YouTube along with Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, has never uploaded another video to his channel. He has, however, occasionally changed the text in the description, his most recent update, made in the last few months, saying, “Microplastics are accumulating in human brains at an alarming rate,” along with a link to a video on the subject. Karim keeps a pretty low profile these days, but remains active as a software engineer, investor, and mentor in the tech industry. He may even visit San Diego Zoo occasionally to marvel at where it all started. Editors’ Recommendations