L'éditeur sait que l'avenir de la création est à l'intelligence artificielle générative. Et il a travaillé en conséquence pour apporter des...

EA Sports announced Madden NFL 26 and College Football 26 release dates in a new trailer highlighting the "football journey" from high-school recruit to big-league pro. Preorders are open for both games now, with a few caveats. They're only available for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S to start with, as EA has yet to open preorders for Madden NFL 26's Nintendo Switch 2 version. The studio isn't supporting PS4 and Xbox One with this year's sports games, either.Madden NFL 26 launches on August 14, and College Football 26 releases on July 10. Madden 26 will launch on PC, but EA Sports has no plans to put College Football 26 on PC at present. Preorders are available on the PlayStation Store and Xbox Store, and while EA Sports is pushing an "MVP Bundle" version that includes both games for $150.00, you can preorder Madden 26 separately for $70.00. Standalone College Football 26 preorders aren't live yet.Continue Reading at GameSpot

Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for You season 5 episode 8.

Advancing AI requires a full-stack approach, with a powerful foundation of computing infrastructure — including accelerated processors and networking technologies — connected to optimized compilers, algorithms and applications. NVIDIA Research is innovating across this spectrum, supporting virtually every industry in the process. At this week’s International Conference on Learning Representations (ICLR), taking place April 24-28 in Singapore, more than 70 NVIDIA-authored papers introduce AI developments with applications in autonomous vehicles, healthcare, multimodal content creation, robotics and more. “ICLR is one of the world’s most impactful AI conferences, where researchers introduce important technical innovations that move every industry forward,” said Bryan Catanzaro, vice president of applied deep learning research at NVIDIA. “The research we’re contributing this year aims to accelerate every level of the computing stack to amplify the impact and utility of AI across industries.” Research That Tackles Real-World Challenges Several NVIDIA-authored papers at ICLR cover groundbreaking work in multimodal generative AI and novel methods for AI training and synthetic data generation, including:  Fugatto: The world’s most flexible audio generative AI model, Fugatto generates or transforms any mix of music, voices and sounds described with prompts using any combination of text and audio files. Other NVIDIA models at ICLR improve audio large language models (LLMs) to better understand speech. HAMSTER: This paper demonstrates that a hierarchical design for vision-language-action models can improve their ability to transfer knowledge from off-domain fine-tuning data — inexpensive data that doesn’t need to be collected on actual robot hardware — to improve a robot’s skills in testing scenarios.    Hymba: This family of small language models uses a hybrid model architecture to create LLMs that blend the benefits of transformer models and state space models, enabling high-resolution recall, efficient context summarization and common-sense reasoning tasks. With its hybrid approach, Hymba improves throughput by 3x and reduces cache by almost 4x without sacrificing performance. LongVILA: This training pipeline enables efficient visual language model training and inference for long video understanding. Training AI models on long videos is compute and memory-intensive — so this paper introduces a system that efficiently parallelizes long video training and inference, with training scalability up to 2 million tokens on 256 GPUs. LongVILA achieves state-of-the-art performance across nine popular video benchmarks. LLaMaFlex: This paper introduces a new zero-shot generation technique to create a family of compressed LLMs based on one large model. The researchers found that LLaMaFlex can generate compressed models that are as accurate or better than state-of-the art pruned, flexible and trained-from-scratch models — a capability that could be applied to significantly reduce the cost of training model families compared to techniques like pruning and knowledge distillation. Proteina: This model can generate diverse and designable protein backbones, the framework that holds a protein together. It uses a transformer model architecture with up to 5x as many parameters as previous models. SRSA: This framework addresses the challenge of teaching robots new tasks using a preexisting skill library — so instead of learning from scratch, a robot can apply and adapt its existing skills to the new task. By developing a framework to predict which preexisting skill would be most relevant to a new task, the researchers were able to improve zero-shot success rates on unseen tasks by 19%. STORM: This model can reconstruct dynamic outdoor scenes — like cars driving or trees swaying in the wind — with a precise 3D representation inferred from just a few snapshots. The model, which can reconstruct large-scale outdoor scenes in 200 milliseconds, has potential applications in autonomous vehicle development. Discover the latest work from NVIDIA Research, a global team of around 400 experts in fields including computer architecture, generative AI, graphics, self-driving cars and robotics. 

The buzz of excitement is ramping up into a full roar as EA Sports F1 25 gets ready for lights out on May 30. And with it comes a whole paddock of improvements, tweaks, and new features to ensure unfamiliar racers and track veterans alike all feel at home. I recently had an opportunity to talk with the developers at EA Codemasters about the upcoming racing game’s newest gameplay features. “We’re never short of feedback,” says EA Codemasters’ Creative Director Gavin Cooper. “We listen to the community and that informs a lot of our features this year.” The wealth of voices offering reactions over the figurative team radio don’t just include the official forums and other close sources, but also Esports drivers and content creators who had the opportunity to get their hands on  F1 25, early during its development. The result is a game which has aimed to sharpen up everything from its car handling, to a glossier TV-style presentation, and enhanced real driver voice over. “Hearing the real drivers’ voices as you’re playing really brings a degree of authenticity to the experience,” says Gavin. “We’ve got almost double the number of voice lines in F1 25 that we had in F1 24, and you experience them in more context, too.” So not only can you hear directly from some of the principals, you’ll also have back and forth exchanges between the real drivers and the in-game race engineers, offering the sort of camaraderie – and tension – of the real thing. Gavin is also keen to point out that for fans who were frustrated with the samey engine noises in the comprehensive My Team mode, that bugbear has been addressed. “You’re now able to attach the correct audio to the different engine suppliers – so depending on which supplier you pick, it’ll actually make your car sound different. That’s something I know people have wanted for a long time.” Your very own dream team On the subject of My Team, the popular mode has received a significant boost, designed to get fans’ hearts racing. This time, rather than being the owner-driver, you’re now the team owner having to manage a pair of drivers. “We know being an owner-driver is not authentic to the sport,” says Gavin. “But now having to manage two drivers opens up a lot of interesting decisions for the player. Previously whenever we’ve asked you to prioritise one driver over the other it wasn’t an interesting choice – you’d naturally choose yourself. Now you have to think about who’s the most important in things like contract negotiation and upgrades.” While you’ll choose who to control on the track itself during race weekends, managing two different personalities and egos offers more complexity to juggle, on top of running the detailed Engineering, Personnel and Corporate facilities, which can also spill out into how your team, competitors and prospects perceive you. Even when added to the expanded R&D and sponsor systems which interact with perks, upgrades, and relationships, and increased control over Driver Icons to allow AI teams to recruit iconic drivers, it’s still only a selection of the additions you’ll have at your racing gloved fingertips. Braking Point drives the narrative experience forward Fans of Braking Point, F1’s massive story mode series, aren’t left on the starting grid, either. “We’re always looking for ways to increase the players’ impact on the narrative,” says Gavin. So now when key events happen, you have the option to choose from the two Konnersport drivers available in that scenario, resulting in various ripple effects which can not only impact some of the race objectives, but also the end of the story itself. Implementing this expansion and various branching narratives was no small task for the development team. “We’re keeping track of the core narrative, which is supported by various other threads, subplots, and other little storylines that we deliver through the secondary narrative, like phone calls, social media and news posts,” explains Gavin. “And those different threads might be more relevant to one driver but can come back and intersect with the main story. So it’s making sure you’re still getting something that feels specific to that driver and the storylines that you’re engaging with, and still have a coherent overall narrative that everyone can enjoy. It’s difficult, but it’s been a really fun process as well.” And when you finish Braking Point? Well, there’s a special bonus that will allow you to bring your Konnersport team directly into the Career Mode, for the first time in the series. It’s just one of the many ways F1 25 has stepped up a gear to give you a variety of flexibility in how you want to race. “There’s a whole matrix of possibilities you can pursue in the game,” says Gavin.  “You can play as an official driver, or a custom driver, but there’s also kinda an 11th team, via Konnersport or Apex. Do you still play as a custom driver on an official team, or go for an official driver? And that’s all before you even get into bringing Icons into My Team, too.” View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Immersive details at every turn As in-depth as many of the existing modes go, the development team haven’t forgotten about the fun little extras, either. In-depth customisation means a better decal editor, there’s the ability to change driver number fonts and colours, and LIDAR scanning has provided millions of referenced data points for a more authentic look and feel for five tracks (Bahrain, Miami, Melbourne, Suzuka, and Imola), including safety barriers, fan areas, and even accurate vegetation. And now you can also race around Silverstone, Zandvoort, and Austria in reverse track layouts in Grand Prix, Time Trial, Multiplayer, and from the second season of the Career modes. “It’s the feature that seems to catch people out the most,” smiles Gavin. “You think you know those courses, but when you actually get to play them they really do feel like brand new tracks. There’s a lot of nuance, you’re not just driving them backwards. It really spins people’s heads out a little, having a very different experience in a familiar location.” With F1 25 taking pole year in, year out, it’s no secret that creating these games is arguably as complicated as mapping out a real-life racing campaign, with the development team split into those who work specifically on the ‘even’ year iterations of the series, and those who work on the ‘odd’ years. “We started a central team that works on the stuff that we do every year, so things like handling, AI and so on,” Gavin explains. “They still work on yearly cadence. But having that split team model is really valuable, it lets us set up all of these big features every year. It’s tricky because we overlap, and are essentially working in the game’s build at the same time, but fundamentally a lot of it comes down to good process, good communication, and the right people in the right place.” It’s a method which, like the best F1 teams, relies on the keenest of teamwork – but comes together every year when it matters. You’ll be able to experience it all for yourself when EA Sports F1 25 launches on PS5 on May 30.

One of the more surprising features arriving with the Nintendo Switch 2 is the ability to hook up a camera to your console to use in tandem with its new GameChat functionality. The Discord-like feature allows to chat with friends and see each other while playing Mario Kart World or other online multiplayer games. If you’d like to pre-order the official Switch 2 camera ahead of the June 5 launch, you can currently reserve one for $54.99 from Best Buy, GameStop, Target, Walmart, or Nintendo. The Switch 2 camera was originally going to launch at $49.99, but Nintendo increased the prices of almost all of the Switch 2 accessories following news of tariffs, though the cost of the console remains unchanged. While it’s been confirmed that Switch 2 will support a variety of third-party USB-C webcams, Nintendo’s official camera is a somewhat affordable option that comes with a built-in stand and privacy shutter (the microphone is built into the Switch 2 itself). There will be an app built into the Switch 2 that tests compatibility of non-Nintendo webcams. Another camera option launching shortly after the Switch 2 on June 11 is the Hori Nintendo Switch 2 Piranha Plant camera. This $59.99 camera takes the form of the carnivorous plants found in the Mushroom Kingdom, and is currently available to pre-order from Best Buy or Target. The Piranha Plant camera has a posable stem that can detach from the base, while the mouth can be closed to serve as a privacy shutter. Just note that while this camera is more expensive than the first-party version, the resolution of its camera is just 480p, compared to the 1080p found in the official Switch 2 camera. The Nintendo Switch 2 camera and many other accessories will be hitting shelves June 5 — the same day as the Switch 2 console itself. You can currently pre-order plenty of other Switch 2 accessories, Switch 2 games, and new Zelda amiibo. As for the console, after Switch 2 pre-orders opened on April 24, the console quickly sold out. We’re unsure what stock availability for the console will look like between now and the June 5 release, but you can check out our Switch 2 pre-order guide to look for possible restocks.

Positioning itself as an elevated alternative to standard vacation rental platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO, HIGHSTAY tenders a tightly curated collection of luxury apartments throughout Paris. Each is programmed with all of the hard and soft amenities one would expect from a 5-star hotel. Much of this approach centers on tapping the French capital’s impressive raft of interior architects to outfit these one- to three-bedroom flats. The challenge for them, however, is to not just simply create pristine yet unlivable statement pieces but rather, ensure these temporary dwellings are comfortable enough for a multigenerational family to take up residence. The same thinking informed HIGHSTAY’s recent expansion into the Mediterranean market. Among two revamped estates, Villa Coachella emerges as a, what appears to be modest, stone-clad farmhouse perched within the lush Chemin de Saint Anne hills of Saint Tropez. With close to 3000 square feet of space, the “country home” unfolds as a deft interplay of relaxed coastal living and refinement. Comprehensively reimagined by Paris-based interior architect and furniture designer Stéphan Parmentier, the destination reflects his proclivity for contemporary art and civil aviation. These reference points are introduced in a nuanced treatment; one that doesn’t overpower an especially site-responsive palette of earthy and off-white finishes best suited to frame the natural majesty of the surroundings. Woven textiles, mid-tone woods, off-white ceramic surfaces, and terrazzo inserts are carried across the property. Custom built-ins accompany carefully sourced furnishings and distinctive but not boisterous industrially inspired luminaires. The rustic atmosphere is tempered by touches of precision engineering. Black steel framed windows are dressed in green shutters. Arched articulations in both architectural detailing and furnishings are as much a reflection of contemporary intervention as they are of ancient innovation. A robust collection of contemporary art ties everything together. In the main exposed-beam living room, a puzzle-like coffee table sits below a large sculptural chandelier. The main fully-equipped kitchen is complemented by a state-of-art outdoor barbecue set-up. Villa Coachella comprises nine en suite bedrooms and expansive interior and exterior entertainment spaces that seamlessly blend together. In true South-of-France fashion, the oversized heated pool and alfresco dining areas give way to undulating vineyards. Beyond its design-led approach, HIGHSTAY also champions a robust suite of experiential services. In Paris, these include private cruises along the Seine, perfume master classes at Guerlain, and helicopter tours of Versailles. In Saint Tropez, there’s an onsite boccia court, fitness center replete with top-line Technogym equipment, and a full spa rivaling a 5-star resort. Also cohesively staged by Parmentier, the facility incorporates a hamman, sauna, jacuzzi, and cold plunge. The home cinema is adorned in a starlit ceiling and features a foosball table. Though able to accommodate up to 18 guests, Villa Coachella is large enough to facilitate quiet retreat. There’s enough amenity spaces and programming for guests to cut away for a bit. While children might splash around in the pool, their parents can partake in a guided meditation away from the noise. Private chefs are also on call. What: HIGHSTAY’s Villa Coachella Where: Saint Tropez, France How much: Price upon request Design draws: A sprawling, full-service residence along Saint Tropez’s hilly coastline deftly reimagined by renowned interior architect Stéphan Parmentier to both reflect the rustic setting and contemporary style. Book it: Villa Coachella Go virtually on vacation with more design destinations right here. Photography by Clément Gérard.

Ratio, efficiency, shape & language support.Image: authorI conducted research to introduce and compare several commonly used UI font metrics, highlighting their pros and cons. This analysis may help you define the most suitable font to meet the product’s needs.The key metrics I examined include x-height ratio, top-to-bottom leading ratio, spatial efficiency, shape, number and multi-language support.x-height ratioBefore discussing x-height ratio, it’s important to first understand the concepts of visual arc.Visual arc refers to the angular size of an object based on its distance and size. In typography, this concept helps determine how easily text can be read at different sizes and distances — the smaller the visual arc, the harder it is to perceive fine details.Image: authorX-height is the height of the lowercase letters in a typeface, measured from the baseline to the top of characters like “x,” excluding ascenders and descenders. Typefaces with a relatively high x-height tend to appear larger at the same point size, which significantly enhances legibility, particularly on screens and digital interfaces. This is why many modern, screen-optimized fonts feature a higher x-height.Image: WikipediaTo evaluate a font’s minimum readable size, we need to consider both the viewing distance and the size of the font’s characters. Research from imarc suggests that an optimal x-height falls around 0.3° of visual arc. Beyond this point, reading speed tends to decline. The lower threshold for readability is approximately 0.2°.Image: JOVA useful tool for assessing this is the x-height Readability Calculator, where you can input values such as font size, x-height, screen resolution, and viewing distance to calculate the visual arc and evaluate readability.The product I worked on is primarily designed for mobile devices, so I used 167 ppi, as it’s the reference scale many mobile browsers use to map CSS pixels to physical pixels. Viewing distance can vary — for example, when sitting and browsing, it’s typically around 12–14 inches, whereas lying down (such as in bed) often brings the device closer, around 25–30 cm (10–12 inches). Therefore, I tested both 14 inches (as a general distance) and 10 inches (for closer viewing). I tested font sizes at 16px(=12pt) and 12px(=9pt), as these represent the common maximum and minimum body text sizes in UI design. Below are the minimum x-height ratios I tested:Image: author14 inches/12pt: Minimum x-height ratio = 52%14 inches/9pt: Minimum x-height ratio = 69%10 inches/12pt: Minimum x-height ratio = 37%10 inches/9pt: Minimum x-height ratio = 49%Below are several common fonts I evaluated by calculating their x-height values using the x-height calculator.Image: authorWhile a higher x-height improves readability on smaller screens, it doesn’t mean that bigger is always better. Once the x-height exceeds a certain threshold, the text can actually become harder to read, and the typeface’s overall character or personality may also be affected.Image: authorAlthough the minimum x-height ratio for legibility on mobile screens at typical viewing distances is above 69%, this benchmark is somewhat unrealistic. Most fonts do not have such a high x-height, and pushing for this ratio can actually reduce readability by making the text feel cramped or unnatural.Based on this, I’ve established a standard that a minimum x-height ratio above 49% helps maintain legibility at closer viewing distances. Ideally, aiming for above 52% provides a better balance — making larger body text more comfortable to read at typical distances on mobile screens.Top-to-bottom leading ratioThe leading here refers to the vertical space between the font size and the line height — specifically, from the top of the line height to the ascent, and from the bottom of the line height to the descent. Refer to top leading and bottom leading in the image below.Image: authorI tested Open Sans and SF Pro at 16px, center-aligned within a 24px-high container, and measured their top-to-bottom leading ratios:Image: authorOpen Sans: 2.7:1SF Pro: 1.54:1These ratios impact how text sits within a container — like in tags or badges. Typically, the top leading is larger than the bottom. However, a smaller ratio tends to create more balanced vertical spacing, making the text feel more visually centered and stable.Spatial EfficiencyWhen displaying content in a UI using the same font size and line height, different fonts occupy different amounts of horizontal space. In the image below, the same content is shown using three fonts: Roboto, HarmonyOS Sans, and Work Sans. Roboto takes up the least horizontal space, followed by HarmonyOS Sans, while Work Sans occupies the most.Image: authorWith the same line height and content, a font that uses less horizontal space is more efficient — it enables more information to fit within the same layout. However, spatial efficiency can also be affected by adjustments to letter spacing.ShapeCharacter DifferentiationDistinct letterforms improve legibility by making it easier to differentiate between similar characters, such as “0” (zero) and “O” (uppercase o), or “I” (uppercase i), “l” (lowercase L), and “1” (one). Clear distinctions between letterforms reduce confusion.Image: authorOpen Letter ShapesFor example, when the ends of the letter “c” are more open and separated, the shape appears lighter and more minimal. Open letterforms generally create a cleaner, more approachable visual impression.Image: authorCurrency SymbolsThe design of currency symbols, like the dollar sign ($), can vary. Some fonts include a vertical line through the “S”, while others do not. While stylistic preferences play a role, using standardized and easily recognizable symbols contributes to a more user-friendly and intuitive reading experience.Image: authorNumberNumbers play a crucial role in interfaces — especially in financial, technical, and data-driven products. Typography choices directly impact how clearly and consistently numerical data is displayed.Monospaced numbersMonospaced numbers have a uniform width, allowing them to align vertically in tables, forms, and dashboards. This improves readability and supports clear data comparison. Some typefaces offer monospaced numbers by default, while others provide a dedicated font or style variant specifically for monospaced numerals. In some cases, designers choose a separate typeface for numbers to ensure alignment.Image: authorConsistent width across weightsSome fonts maintain monospaced numeral width across different font weights — light, regular, bold, etc. — ensuring visual alignment even when emphasizing certain values. This is especially helpful in tables or financial summaries where totals are bolded but must remain in line with other figures.Image: authorNumber lengthShorter numeral lengths make more efficient use of space, allowing more digits to be displayed within the same horizontal area. This is especially valuable in data-dense layouts, such as tables, dashboards, or mobile screens, where space is limited and clarity is essential.Image: authorMultilingual supportDifferent fonts support different scripts and character sets, so it’s essential to identify the language systems your product requires before selecting a typeface. Tools like a charset checker can help you verify which characters are supported.For example, I tested the Open Sans font for Latin, Cyrillic, and Arabic scripts. As shown in the image below, green indicates supported punctuation, yellow represents auxiliary characters, and red highlights required characters that are not supported. Based on this analysis, Open Sans provides strong support for Latin and Cyrillic, but lacks coverage for Arabic.Image: authorIn my experience, it’s rare to find a single font that supports all writing systems. This is often due to the size limitations of font files — especially for scripts like Chinese, which require thousands of characters. As a result, products that support multiple languages typically use different fonts tailored to specific scripts, such as separate fonts for Arabic and Chinese.The metrics discussed above focus primarily on objective, rational criteria. However, it’s also important to consider more subjective aspects, such as brand identity and user preferences. I hope this article provides useful insights to help you make more informed decisions when selecting a font.Referenceshttps://www.imarc.com/blog/best-font-size-for-any-devicehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-heighthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-heighthttps://www.gate39media.com/design-spotlight-fonts-in-financial-services/https://www.myfonts.com/pages/fontscom-learning-fontology-level-1-type-anatomy-x-heightHow to be strategic when picking a typeface was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

I was recently having lunch with a couple friends and their 7-year-old and we ordered a giant soft pretzel with beer cheese. As we mindlessly broke off pieces of the pretzel during our chatter, I noticed how the small human was silently eating her pretzel piece—salt first—and I saw a bit of myself in her. I have a vivid memory of being in middle school at a friend’s house and eating seasoned salt straight off of a plate. Eating salt so voraciously isn't wrong, per se, but sadly, the love affair can’t last forever.   While my love for sodium chloride crystals has hardly faded, I am of an age where I need to chill on my salt intake as I am interested in longevity. Am I perfect? Hardly. I still love deli meats and the occasional fast food, but I am improving. It’s a work in progress. To reduce my salt intake, I’m using MSG and soy sauce to help me on my journey. Salt isn’t everythingTo other salt fans, this is blasphemy, but truly there are four other flavors we should give equal attention to: bitter, sour, umami, and sweet. If you find yourself constantly reaching for the salt cellar when you’re cooking because “something” is missing, it might be one of those other flavors. After you’ve added that first measurement of salt, try to tap into striking a balance with those other flavors. Squeeze in some fresh lemon or lime juice; even a spoonful of tomato sauce could bring in much needed acidity. Add chopped nuts, or keep the peels on your vegetables for bitterness. A teaspoon of sugar, maple syrup, or a handful of raisins can add surprisingly welcome sweetness. But salt’s sister seasonings are certainly those that exhibit umami. Seasonings like MSG and soy sauce might be the “something” you’ve been seeking.How MSG and soy sauce can help you cut down on saltFor context, in an equal measurement comparison, salt contains considerably more sodium than both soy sauce and MSG. A teaspoon of table salt contains about 2,300 mg of sodium. A teaspoon of soy sauce has about 300 and a teaspoon of MSG has about 500.  My regular Kikkoman soy sauce, not low sodium, has 320 mg of sodium per teaspoon. (A teaspoon is 1/3 of a tablespoon.) Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann Aside from just the quantity of sodium, it’s important to keep in mind that each flavoring agent has different potency, too. A quarter-teaspoon of MSG can adequately flavor about two cups of soup broth, while you might use ¾ of a teaspoon of salt for the same volume of liquid. I rarely use more than an eighth of a teaspoon of MSG when I make a personal serving of vegetables for example. For some other ways I use MSG in cooking and baking, read here.How I cook to reduce saltYou can see how by adding a pinch of MSG and a teaspoon of soy sauce (which also contains the building blocks of MSG) you’re still getting that salty flavor but with so much more. With these two seasonings you activate your glutamate receptors, which stimulate that mouth watering response, along with building a well-rounded savory flavor. Despite my history of really leaning into salt, I’m learning that umami and a smidge of salt is often enough. Whereas in the past I would add another pinch of salt, and then another, never really hitting the perfect note. To reduce salt, I’ve switched around my cooking style slightly by using a “salt last” seasoning method when I can. I sautée, braise, or make soup as usual, but I add a portion of MSG or soy sauce first. Then I’ll taste the finished dish. If it needs some salt then I’ll add some and taste it again. This way I can use MSG and soy sauce in combination with salt or as a complete replacement for salt when it works. Granted, sometimes I prefer to add salt earlier in the cooking process, like if I’m roasting vegetables or dry brining a chicken. For roasted veggies, I’ve simply taken to cutting the usual salt in half and adding a splash of soy sauce after it’s finished cooking. For dry brining, I’ll cut the salt in half again, and replace it with MSG. Holy cow, what a chicken. Do not sleep on adding MSG to your brines, whether dry or wet. Luckily, soy sauce and MSG go well with pretty much everything so you don’t have to spend much brain power wondering if it pairs well with what you’re cooking. If you need some inspiration, here are some unexpected ways to use MSG, and an excellent cookbook, Salt, Sugar, MSG, for flavorful recipes that include these seasoning heroes. Note that these are my tricks for reducing salt simply because I'd like to, but if you have a medical requirement to reduce your salt intake, be sure to check with your doctor as you make changes to your diet.

Razer has unveiled two new iterations of its Pro Click mouse with an eye toward comfort. The Pro Click V2 is a standard mouse model, while the Pro Click V2 Vertical Edition is the first vertical mouse design from the company. More and more peripheral manufacturers are offering vertical designs, which can be a more ergonomic mouse option, particularly if you experience discomfort when spending long stretches at a computer. The Pro Click V2 Vertical Edition has eight programmable buttons and promises a battery life of up to six months. It has a 71.7 degree tilt, so a user holds it in a handshake-like grip, which can reduce strain for long use sessions. There's also a support on the base that aims to cut down on wrist friction. This model retails for $120.  The standard Pro Click V2 model costs $100. It has an additional ninth button but its battery life is only up to 3.5 months. It has a slight angle of 30 degrees for a more natural grip.  RGB lighting has long been a hallmark of Razer's products, and whether you love it or love to hate it, that colorful visual signature is present on both mice. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/razer-has-a-vertical-mouse-now-183226307.html?src=rss