Julien Pradignac, the founder of Atelier PA, was asked to design a hotel-style apartment in this small, poorly lit, street-level space. He began by opening up the original layout of the apartment to create a single open space for working, living, and sleeping, along with a separate bathroom. A “service area” was created with a small entrance hall, and it includes room for a washing machine, as well as a minimalist bathroom in waxed concrete with a small sink, toilet, and large shower. Working along the length of the very small apartment, Pradignac created storage space above the apartment’s installations to free up as much floor space as possible. This allowed him to also create a long, custom-made unit that serves as a kitchen, worktop, and even a small impromptu home office—with a cabinet front that doubles as a desktop when propped into place. There’s also a drawer that doubles as an ironing board.Atelier PA created a perfect rectangle in the 130-square-foot space, placing all the functional elements along either side of the apartment in order to free up space in the center. The end table is by La Redoute and the Trieste chair by Aldo Jacober is a flea-market find. Previously, a mezzanine level broke up the volume with its beautiful high ceiling, making the space feel smaller. An ingenious pulley system, however, created more space by allowing the apartment’s bed to be raised to the ceiling when no one is using it. This changes the use of the space allowing the owner to keep a sofa in the room, thanks to wooden stops in the wall (higher than the sofa) on which the bed rests when it is lowered. The tedious task of moving a bed or setting up and then breaking down a sofa bed twice a day has been eliminated. “The inspiration came from laundry lines that can be easily moved into place when they are being used and then just as easily put away. It allowed us to think about the bed from a technical standpoint. But we were also inspired by the iconic fishing nets used in the estuaries of France’s Loire, Charente, and Gironde rivers with their pulley systems.” From this deceptively simple brief, the bed becomes an attractive feature of the unit, thanks in part to the playful aspect of how it is operated, but also because of the way it discreetly disappears. In keeping with the small space, the problem of storage is solved by the large kitchen unit and the cupboards that extend up to the ceiling on the entrance and bathroom sides. The approach here is simple—no clutter is allowed.The bed rests on supports just higher than the back of the sofa, avoiding the tedious task of having to move a bed into place every day, and then remove it as well. It is inspired by clotheslines systems and fishing nets with pulley systems found in France’s Atlantic estuaries. The bed is raised during the day to free up space. Flowerpot lamp by Verner Panton. Vintage woven pouf. Pradignac is known for his use of fine materials that engage with the beauty of Paris and the visual contexts of his projects. In this apartment, stone from Burgundy covers an electric underfloor heating system and the material is ideal for retaining heat. The heating system maximizes the use of space as there are no radiators in the apartment. There’s also an added bonus in terms of comfort: You can walk around barefoot and always feel warm. The kitchen cabinets and the mobile step stool used to access the bed and the high storage units in the living room are made from a wood that the architect regularly uses in his projects: okoumé plywood, which he stains and varnishes to give it a more decorative, glossy appearance, reminiscent of a designer sideboard. He combined it with a stainless-steel worktop for its ability to reflect light throughout the apartment, as does the very light-colored stone floor. The walls are white to maximize the natural light coming in from the apartment’s sole window. “It was almost a given that we had to paint the walls white; there aren’t many options for getting more natural light into a space. However, the owner wanted the bathroom to be a slightly darker space with soft lighting and a more subdued atmosphere in the morning.” The natural light in the bathroom is softened as it passes through a fluted glass door.The kitchen unit is treated as a sideboard along one wall and was custom-designed to integrate all the amenities of a larger kitchen. Salt and pepper shakers by Ettore Sottsass. The bathroom’s design is also a way of adding a touch of color without impacting the natural light in the rest of the small apartment. It’s like a grotto or a hidden discovery, a secret behind a translucent door. The color is similar to okoumé, but with a little more bronze and applied to waxed concrete that has been textured so it has a highly reflective, lacquered effect.Finally, there’s nothing fussy about this apartment. Beyond the formally more complex arched entrance, Pradignac’s approach is one of almost radical simplicity, though a simplicity paired with elegance thanks to the varnished okoumé veneer, the stone from Burgundy, small arched niches, and the woven pouf. The palette of raw, natural materials lends an undeniable cachet to the space. On an okoumé shelf, a painting by Julien Vermeulen (who is a plumassier, an artist who creates works from feathers) stands alongside an Ettore Sottsass salt and pepper shaker. Somewhere between a guest room and a small hotel suite, Atelier PA has created an ingenious and endearing little space.As is true of all of architect Julien Pradignac’s projects, he created a material palette of exquisite finishes. The floor made with stone from Burgundy integrates an underfloor heating system that eliminates the need for radiators that would consume limited space. The arch at the entrance and the wooden windowsill are distinguished details. On the left, in the entrance hall, a cabinet conceals a washing machine. The kitchen unit, designed by the architect, is made of stained and varnished okoumé plywood to give it the look of a sideboard, fitting the multipurpose room. Two niches in the wall of the living room, which is also the bedroom when the bed is lowered, are lined with mirrors that reflect the light in the apartment. The top of the living room/kitchen unit is stainless steel. Glo Ballwall light (Flos). On the right, an artwork made of feathers (Maison Vermeulen). A step provides access to the built-in storage above the laundry and bathroom. The steps also incorporate additional storage for small items. The fluted glass door to the right lets natural light into the bathroom. The step also provides access to the bed, which is raised and lowered using a playfully designed crank. Okoumé wood, stone from Burgundy, and white walls: the apartment’s colors are provided by its materials with their nuances and contrasts. Discreet, round wooden stops help to support the bed when it is in its lowered position above the sofa, making the transition from day to night seamless. When the bed is raised during the day, it forms a ceiling above the sofa. The overall effect is one of crafted, cozy elegance. On the left, the fluted glass door to the powder room. The shower room is in all-over bronze-colored waxed concrete with a reflective finish. Here too, color is introduced through materials: dark walls, a black stone washbasin, and stainless-steel fittings (Hotbath) like the small shelf above the sink. The shower is minimalist—raw and sensual, but also comfortably spacious, especially considering the apartment’s small size. It’s a luxury made possible thanks to the design, and execution, by Atelier PA. The apartment’s floor plan before Atelier PA’s redesign. The floor plan after the redesign. This small, hotel-style apartment was originally published in AD France.

How to Bake VDM (3D) Sculpting Brushes in Blender By Gleb Alexandrov on May 10, 2025 Videotutorials Gleb Alexandrov writes:What makes Vector Displacement Map brushes (VDM) different from normal displacement:Standard displacement moves vertices along the surface normal (up/down).VDM uses a 3D vector (x, y, z) per pixel, allowing full spatial displacement, so it can create overhangs, folds, horns, pores, scales, etc, that normal brushes can’t.

Bottom line: The Energy Star program was introduced by a Republican president in 1992. Now, a new Republican administration appears poised to shut it down for good. While the Trump administration speaks of organizational improvements, industry representatives are warning politicians about the dire consequences their actions could have on households budgets. Internal sources at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report that the administration plans to kill the Energy Star program. After serving as a "gold standard" of sorts for power efficiency in the US and elsewhere in the world, the familiar blue Energy Star label may soon vanish from the market. The reason, US representatives dared to say, is government efficiency. The Energy Star program was launched by the first Bush Administration in 1992 to promote energy efficiency and help consumers make informed purchasing decisions. It operates through a voluntary partnership between government and industry. According to the EPA, Energy Star is one of the most successful voluntary initiatives in U.S. history, recognized worldwide. Since its inception, it has helped save an estimated 5 trillion kilowatt-hours of electricity and more than $500 billion in energy costs. EPA figures also indicate that the program has prevented approximately 4 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions by improving the efficiency of energy-hungry appliances. Households that choose Energy Star-certified products can save around $450 annually on utility bills. Every federal dollar spent on the program has resulted in roughly $350 in energy cost savings for businesses and consumers. So why is the Trump administration eliminating the successful Energy Star program? According to Molly Vaseliou, acting EPA Associate Administrator for Public Affairs, the agency is undergoing a "phase of reorganization" aimed at improving air, water, and land quality for all Americans. However, this plan includes cutting both the Office of Transportation and Air Quality and the Office of Radiation and Indoor Air, the very departments responsible for managing Energy Star. Vaseliou claims that ending Energy Star specifications will contribute to making Americans safer. But Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), argues that the decision will only drive up energy bills for American families. Without access to clear efficiency standards, consumers will struggle to identify the best products for their needs and budgets. // Related Stories Killing Energy Star specifications will make Americans safe again, Vaseliou suggests. According to Steven Nadel, executive director of the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), getting rid of the program will just raise the energy bills of American families. With no access to basic specifications about energy efficiency, customers will have no easy way to choose the best offer they can get for their needs and their home budget. Eliminating the Energy Star program will also undermine numerous energy efficiency and rebate initiatives run by utilities, states, and federal agencies, according to the ACEEE. In a recent letter to the EPA, nearly 1,100 companies and organizations urged the Trump administration to continue funding Energy Star for the foreseeable future.

Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked)Remember when local, arcade party games were a dime a dozen? The late 2000s and early 2010s were filled with bite-sized, fun, and digestible experiences you could hop in and out of or sit down to play with friends. Well, Dunk Dunk revitalises that spirit in 2025 with a fun local co-op, action-platforming twist on basketball that is a good time with friends, or on your own in brief sessions, especially for its price point. Dunk Dunk is a competitive sports game that takes the concept of basketball (scoring points by throwing a ball into a ring) and places in on a 2D arena-style stage similar to Smash Bros. Either in short 1v1 or 2v2 matches, you play as little cartoon characters against other players locally or against the computer to gain possession of the ball and shoot or dunk it into the opposing team's goal (a floating circle). Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) You can grab the ball, throw it, steal it, and even extend your body to block a shot. There is also a jump and air dash to give you a bit more manoeuvrability and launch yourself in the direction you are aiming in. The game's controls and rules are extremely simple by design, making Dunk Dunk a great pick-up-and-play game. You have full 360-degree control over your arms, meaning you can perform fancy arm spins, fakes, and pumps. After a match or two, we were pulling off incredibly satisfying dunks and shots from across an arena. From full arm spins to mid-air alley oops where we passed the ball to the other player, Dunk Dunk's core gameplay is fantastic and really evokes the Wii / Xbox 360 / PS3 era of local arcade co-op games. The arenas are also fantastically designed with your basic open maps, and more complex stages with switches and randomly appearing walls that can aid or throw off your strategy in a match. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) The presentation, audio, and announcer all add to the game's party-like, wacky atmosphere with action cam replays, fancy names for the different types of shots and dunks you can perform, and the bizarre and off the wall character models you can choose from (all of which are unlocked right from the beginning). However, the gameplay isn't flawless and is let down by an unpredictable camera and some poor visual clarity in certain scenarios. These occurred when playing on Switch in both docked and handheld modes, but are especially problematic in handheld because of the smaller screen. When playing in 2v2, occasionally, all four players and the ball can be clustered up together tightly in a corner or section of the stage, making it incredibly hard to see what is going on, who has the ball, and how to get out of the jam everyone is in. It would always result in the ball being flung away by someone, and everyone going after it in different directions. There's no real strategy to get yourself out of those situations. Accessibility Features GameplayAssistsControlsVisualAudioContentFull Accessibility Report Data by Family Gaming Database Additionally, the ball can be hard to see in those moments, making it difficult to work out who has possession. The ability to put a highlight or outline around the ball would easily fix this, but no such option is here. These issues are exacerbated by the camera. While it usually showcases most of the arena, it will occasionally zoom in rapidly to try and show what is going on around the ball more closely. But this is jerky and unpredictable, like a camera lens trying to find focus. It was so frustrating at points, we had to stop playing because we grew so irate at how random the zooms and positioning were. While you can sort of resolve this by slowing the game's speed down to 50% or 75% in the options menu, it also makes Dunk Dunk a real drag to play and kills the momentum and pace of the action. It's really disappointing not to have the option to turn off these zooms or choose a fixed camera only. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) Beyond your classic local modes and CPU fights, there are a few other game modes. Unfortunately, there is no online multiplayer, which would have been nice. But the other modes here offer twists on the basic gameplay. Galaxy Tour sees you compete in several matches against the CPU in a row, in an attempt to gain fans through winning matches and scoring fancy dunks or shots. The more fans you have, the harder matches become. At the end of each run through Galaxy Tour, you unlock more of the mode's ending cutscene, which isn't exactly a captivating reward, but it's cool to have some kind of single-player, linear mode to work through. This is also where you can find a few different kinds of trials, like tests of platforming skill that task you with scoring dunks while avoiding hazards and other obstacles. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Handheld/Undocked) The other main mode is Mutator Madness, which sees Dunk Dunk add a whole load of modifiers and changes to the game to shake things up. These include things like an anvil ball that stops you from jumping, a ball that becomes invisible every few seconds (forcing you to keep track of it), and modifiers that randomly teleport you somewhere in the arena during a match. It's fine, but not particularly engaging, and we found most of these modifiers to be way more annoying than enjoyable to toy around with. They can also appear in Galaxy Tour and some of the other challenges. The fact that these changes are just thrown in and changed up in the middle of a match is also frustrating. There isn't an announcer or text telling you what each modifier does when they are introduced while playing. Instead, the ball will just change to an anvil, or you will be teleported randomly, with only a tiny symbol signifying the modifier is active. The abruptness of these mutator shakeups left a sour taste in our mouth, and we often found playing with them spoiled the core gameplay of Dunk Dunk. Captured on Nintendo Switch (Docked) Finally, there are a few different ways to play matches. You can hop in and play a competitive tournament with up to 16 players locally or compete in individual matches. There are also specific challenges that are similar to the individual matches in Galaxy Tour to try, as well as Mario Kart-style tournament cups to complete. Nothing groundbreaking, but enough options to find something you will enjoy.

In Brief Posted: 6:27 AM PDT · May 10, 2025 Image Credits:Getty Images for Vox Media / Getty Images Whitney Wolfe Herd on burning out — and bouncing back Whitney Wolfe Herd returned in March to lead Bumble, the dating app she founded and took public, following the unexpected departure of CEO Lidiane Jones. Now, in a New York Times interview, Wolfe Herd opens up about what happened. “I had no intentions of coming back,” Wolfe Herd says. Her post-Bumble life initially brought existential questions about her identity, eventually giving way to daily meditation and board calls from the sidelines. That changed when Jones reached out to confess she was overwhelmed. Shortly after that conversation, Jones resigned. Wolfe Herd dismisses speculation of conflict between them. “I think the world wants people –  particularly when it’s a woman to a woman –  they want there to be some riff. There’s no riff,” she emphasizes. Wolfe Herd recognized her own burnout reflected in Jones’s exhaustion. “I felt like I was looking in a mirror. I felt like I was looking at myself a year prior… [Jones] herself had made some of the same mistakes I had made, which was working that extra hour, putting in that extra trip.” Herd, who announced Friday on Instagram that she’s expecting her third child, addresses the company’s struggles in her Times interview. With Bumble this week reporting first-quarter earnings that fell 7.7% year-over-year, she say that, “Bumble needs me back. It’s an extension of me to some degree, and watching it fall from its peak has been very hard.” Topics

Concrete House in Brissago | © Hannes Henz Set against the dramatic landscape of Brissago, a small town perched above Lake Maggiore in Switzerland, the Concrete House by Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti is conceived as a quiet intervention that respects and reinterprets its topographic context. Anchored directly to the roadside, the building emerges from the terrain as a restrained monolith of washed concrete, simultaneously asserting presence and embedding itself within the natural slope. This duality, between solidity and sensitivity, becomes a guiding principle throughout the project. Concrete House Technical Information Architects1-13: WDMRA | Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti Location: 6614 Brissago, Switzerland Area: 190 m2 | 2,045 Sq. Ft. Completion Year: 2013 Photographs: © Hannes Henz This house can be experienced like a historic village. – Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architects Concrete House Photographs © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz © Hannes Henz Spatial Organization and Circulation Rather than turning away from the infrastructural condition of street adjacency, the architects embrace it: the roof doubles as a parking platform, seamlessly integrating vehicular access into the architectural form. The entry sequence, an elongated descent along a narrow alley, reorients the visitor’s experience, framing the landscape in increasingly intimate vignettes and shifting the perception of scale and spatial depth. The house departs from the idea of a singular dwelling in favor of a typological abstraction reminiscent of a miniature village. Paths, thresholds, and courts unfold in a layered narrative, emphasizing movement, encounter, and discovery. These gestures speak to the architects’ ongoing interest in drawing from vernacular architectures and transforming them through contemporary material and spatial strategies. Internally, the house is structured as a vertical sequence of spatial episodes. Upon entry, one is received not in a foyer or antechamber but directly into the house’s social core, a kitchen and dining area that open generously to the landscape. The glass wall facing the entrance courtyard can be fully recessed, dissolving boundaries between inside and outside and allowing the domestic program to spill outward in warmer months. This deliberate permeability is not a superficial gesture of openness but a carefully modulated transition between architectural enclosure and environmental immersion. Descending to the next level, the program continues with a secondary living room, fireplace, and library spaces of retreat that nonetheless maintain a strong visual and spatial connection to the outside. The central courtyard, paved in natural stone and populated with olive trees and a fountain, serves as the project’s physical and conceptual heart. It mediates between spaces, allowing visual overlaps and multiple circulatory paths. Much like a village square, it is a site of confluence and pause, gathering movement from across the house and redirecting it outward toward the terraced garden, pool, and outdoor kitchen. The lowest levels contain private zones, including bedrooms, baths, and wellness areas. These rooms remain tethered to the exterior through curated openings and connections to the landscape. Rather than a hierarchy of isolated functions, the house offers a gradient of spatial intimacy and exposure, negotiating the demands of privacy and openness through sectional manipulation and courtyard logic. Material Expression and Constructive Clarity Materially, the house is defined by its restrained palette and precision in execution. The washed concrete structure is not merely a façade strategy but the tectonic essence of the building load-bearing, textural, and atmospheric. Its coloration harmonizes with the surrounding stone and vegetation, reinforcing the sense that the house has grown from the hillside rather than been imposed upon it. Interiors follow a similarly measured approach. Oak veneers, chrome steel, and natural stone are deployed with discipline, forming a tactile counterpoint to the rawness of the concrete. Most of the fixed furniture, such as kitchen cabinetry, beds, desks, and dining tables, were custom-designed by the architects, reinforcing a coherent material and formal language throughout the building. Notably, the absence of ornament and decorative excess does not result in sterile minimalism; instead, spatial richness is achieved through proportion, light, and the subtle interplay of surfaces. Constructively, the house reflects a collaboration between local artisans and specialist consultants. Attention to building physics ensures comfort and environmental performance. At the same time, details such as operable gates, recessed glass panels, and integrated drainage systems speak to the precision with which the house negotiates its programmatic and environmental challenges. Atmosphere, Memory, and Typological Resonance Perhaps the most compelling aspect of the Concrete House in Brissago is its ability to evoke memory and place through spatial configuration rather than iconography. The courtyard becomes a mnemonic device, recalling the spatial logic of Mediterranean hill towns and enclosed patios. It serves not just as an organizing element but as an experiential anchor, grounding the inhabitants’ domestic routines within a broader cultural and environmental context. The house resists the impulse for singularity. It is not a ‘house as object’ but a ‘house as experience’ fragmented, layered, and subtly orchestrated. Each movement through the space reveals a new axis, material contrast, or a changing light condition. In this way, the project aligns more closely with phenomenological traditions in architecture, where atmosphere and sensory experience are primary concerns. Concrete House Plans Levels 1 and 2 | © WDMRA Levels 3 and 4 | © WDMRA East Elevation | © WDMRA West Elevation | © WDMRA South Elevation and Section | © WDMRA Concrete House Image Gallery About Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti Wespi de Meuron Romeo Architetti is a Swiss architecture studio based in Caviano, known for its minimalist, context-sensitive designs that emphasize materiality, spatial clarity, and a strong dialogue with the landscape. Their work often integrates traditional typologies with contemporary forms, resulting in architecture that is both timeless and rooted in place. Credits and Additional Notes Construction Supervision: Roberto La Rocca Architekt Structural Engineer: Pedrazzini Guidotti Sagl Building Physics: IFEC Consulenze SA Master Builder: Verzeroli Elia e Figli SA Carpenter: Steiner Schreinerei GmbH Windows: Lurati & Frei SA Site Area: 631 m² Living Floor Area: 190 m² Secondary Rooms: 60 m² Covered Terraces: 20 m² Courtyards: 45 m² Terrace / Lounge: 50 m² Swimming Pool: 22 m²

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping Welcome to Fox News’ Artificial Intelligence newsletter with the latest AI technology advancements.IN TODAY’S NEWSLETTER:- OpenAI chief Sam Altman: US barely ahead of China in artificial intelligence arms race- Some companies have been adjusting their workforce as they embrace more AI, automation: report- Randy Travis stages stunning comeback with help from AI after devastating strokeAI ARMS RACE: OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman joined three other artificial intelligence (AI) and technology executives for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on winning the global AI race and strengthening domestic capabilities in computing and innovation. Sam Altman, chief executive officer of OpenAI, during a fireside chat at University College London (UCL) in London, UK, on Wednesday, May 24, 2023. Altman said part of the reason for his current tour of European cities is to discover a suitable location for a new office.  Digital Network - Human Brain - Blue Version - Artificial Intelligence, Data Flow, Synapse - stock video (Photographer: Chris J. Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images)EMBRACING AI: Some companies have been adjusting their workforce as they simultaneously embrace artificial intelligence and automation more, according to Forbes.NEW INVESTORS: OpenAI is shaking up its corporate structure to bring in new investors and accelerate the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI).OPINION: META MADNESS: Mark Zuckerberg went on a recent media tour to promote that Meta is seeking to transform its Meta AI chatbots into friends, under the guise of helping the very real loneliness epidemic. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke with comedian Theo Von on his "This Past Weekend" podcast. (Theo Von YouTube channel)TRAGEDY TO TRIUMPH: Randy Travis is leaning into artificial intelligence to continue to produce new music, over a decade after his near-fatal stroke.'90s NBA NOSTALGIA: The late Jim Fagan, whose iconic voice became synonymous with NBC programming in the '90s, will be part of NBA coverage going forward – thanks to artificial intelligence.'NOTHING TO DO WITH IT': President Donald Trump responds to some controversy over an AI-generated image of him as the pope. FOLLOW FOX NEWS ON SOCIAL MEDIASIGN UP FOR OUR OTHER NEWSLETTERSDOWNLOAD OUR APPSWATCH FOX NEWS ONLINEFox News GoSTREAM FOX NATIONFox NationStay up to date on the latest AI technology advancements and learn about the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future with Fox News here. This article was written by Fox News staff.

ZDNET's key takeaways The JBL Tour Pro 3 earbuds offer clear and strong sound, powerful noise cancellation, and a battery life that will last you your entire work week. The earbuds come with many improvements, like a Smart-Charging Case compatibility that plugs into in-flight entertainment or laptops for instant Bluetooth connectivity, as well as spatial audio. The build quality of the Tour Pro 3 buds feels cheaper than their predecessors, and I had trouble connecting the earbuds at times. more buying choices What's the deal? The JBL Tour Pro 3 are the brand's luxury earbuds, and at Amazon, they're on sale for $50 off. This deal applies to both the Black and Latte color options.Most music listeners have simple demands for their earbuds: they want a battery life that lasts for days and audio that sounds clear and strong. JBL has always known about this winning combination, and the audio brand develops its products accordingly. Also: Why I recommend these wireless earbuds to most people - even though they're for gamingSo when JBL sent me its Tour Pro 3 earbuds, I already knew the sort of product I was working with before I put them in my ears. I've also had the chance to test the Tour Pro 2 earbuds and compare certain specs from one generation to the next. Here's what stands out the most about JBL's Tour Pro 3 and whether or not you should go for the new generation or stick to the earlier-gen earbuds that are $50 cheaper.  details View at Best Buy The JBL Tour Pro 3 are marketed as earbuds you can take everywhere -- from a run around the park to a long-haul flight. This broad applicability is enabled by the earbuds' upgraded Smart-Charging Case, which connects to in-flight entertainment systems or your laptop for instant audio connection and clear-call capability. You really can listen to anything, anywhere, with these earbuds -- as long as you don't mind the case's chunky build.Also: A year after testing, I still recommend these Nothing earbuds the mostSet side by side, the Tour Pro 2 and Tour Pro 3 look nearly identical. JBL says it's increased the size of the smart display case and made some small improvements, but not much has changed appearance-wise from the second generation to the third. What has changed, however, is sound. The sound of the Tour Pro 3 earbuds is substantial and clear, in general, compared to the Tour Pro 2. The earbuds deliver strong and loud sound that captures the full range of music. I listened to the same song at the same volume on both devices and found that the Tour Pro 3 buds stepped up their game with crisp and lucid music delivery. The earbuds are a boon for desk-side workers who rely on noise cancellation for deep focus and strong microphones for video and audio calls. I didn't have a problem taking meetings with these earbuds and used the Smart-Charging Case's clear call functionality to connect the buds to my video calls. Also: The best noise-canceling earbuds you can buyAt mid volumes, the sound is still immersive and strong, something I look for as a surefire sign of quality earbuds. JBL adds spatial audio to the third-generation buds, which boosts immersion as you listen to music or play a video game. JBL's spatial audio is not as immersive as what I've heard from competing earbuds, like the Bose QuietComfort Ultra earbuds, which cost nearly the same. So, if the feature is high on your priority list, the Bose will serve you better. Nina Raemont/ZDNETThe Tour Pro 3 earbuds offer three listening environment features: noise cancellation, ambient awareness, and Talk Thru. The noise cancellation is strong and eliminates most ambient distractions, while some voices or harsher noises tend to slip through. I'm not a fan of the ambient aware feature on the Tour Pro 2 earbuds because of how inorganic it makes your music feel. This feature on the Tour Pro 3 is improved but it's still not my favorite. Also: Why I travel with these Google Pixel earbuds instead of over-ear headphones nowThe one area where the Tour Pro 2 earbuds supersede the Tour Pro 3 is in build quality. The Tour Pro 2 earbuds have a substantial weight, which helps anchor them in your ears and makes them feel like a $300 pair of buds. Holding both earbuds in my hand, the weight of the Tour Pro 3 buds is far lighter -- and more plasticky -- than the Tour Pro 2. This lighter build also makes them prone to falling out of my ears. As is the case for a JBL device, these earbuds have substantial battery life, with a maximum playtime of 44 hours with ANC off. I did not have to worry about charging these buds until the end of my testing period -- when the case's battery was fully depleted, but the earbuds still maintained an 80% charge. ZDNET's buying adviceWhile I was generally impressed with the Tour Pro 3's new features, including clearer, stronger sound, spatial audio, and the Smart-Charging Case's functionalities, the lighter, plasticky build of the earbuds made me not want to grab and wear them as often as I would other buds. The Tour Pro 3 earbuds would fall out of my ears as I moved because they failed to be anchored by the weight. A $300 pair of earbuds should feel like a weighty purchase in the hand, and that's not the case with the Tour Pro 3 buds.If you want earbuds with amazing sound, great noise cancellation, and a long, enduring battery life that will last you the entire work week and then some, these are the buds for you. If the lighter and cheaper build of the Tour Pro 3 earbuds is giving you pause, I'd recommend the Tour Pro 2 buds instead, which offer just as strong noise cancellation and a sturdier feel in your ears.  When will this deal expire? Deals are subject to sell out or expire at any time, though ZDNET remains committed to finding, sharing, and updating the best product deals for you to score the best savings. Our team of experts regularly checks in on the deals we share to ensure they are still live and obtainable. We're sorry if you've missed out on a deal, but don't fret -- we're constantly finding new chances to save and sharing them with you at ZDNET.com.  Show more What are the tariffs in the US? The recent US tariffs on imports from countries like China, Vietnam, and India aim to boost domestic manufacturing but are likely to drive up prices on consumer electronics. Products like smartphones, laptops, and TVs may become more expensive as companies rethink global supply chains and weigh the cost of shifting production.Headphones and wearable devices, which are predominantly manufactured in these regions, are now subject to tariffs as high as 54% on Chinese imports and 46% on Vietnamese goods. As a result, consumers may see price increases of approximately 20% on these items. Manufacturers are exploring options like relocating production to countries with lower tariffs, but such shifts are complex and may not provide immediate relief. In the short term, shoppers should anticipate higher costs for headphones and wearables due to these trade policies. Show more Featured reviews

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Doom: The Dark Ages is the latest first-person shooter developed by id Software, marking the eighth main entry in the franchise and the third installment of the modern series, following 2020's Doom Eternal. As you can imagine, we won't be reviewing the game here but rather, we'll be benchmarking the "hell" out of it, and no doubt a few configurations will be doomed. The Dark Ages is powered by the idTech8 game engine, which features full dynamic lighting with ray-traced global illumination and ray-traced reflections. As a result, a GPU with hardware RT support is required to play the game. Path tracing is also expected, but it will arrive in a post-launch update. That means no FPS-crushing option just yet for all you RTX 5090 owners. For testing, Nvidia provided driver version 576.31, and AMD provided driver version 25.5.1. Both are game-ready drivers optimized for Doom: The Dark Ages. After several hours of gameplay, we selected a section called "Siege Part 1, Chapter 6, Aspiring Slayer" for benchmarking. The test begins at a checkpoint just before a large battle sequence, and most of the benchmark takes place during that fight, so this should be a quite demanding test. If you were to monitor frame rate performance in a less intense section of the game, such as walking through near-empty corridors, you can expect higher frame rates than what we're showing here. The game offers half a dozen preset options, and while we normally test three or four presets at 1080p, 1440p, and 4K, for this test we're focusing on just two. This is because there was almost no performance difference between the maximum preset (Ultra Nightmare), Nightmare, Ultra, and High. Look ma, no scaling... In fact, looking at the RTX 5080 and 9070 XT, we see that the GeForce GPU experienced just a 2% performance increase when going from Ultra Nightmare to High, while the 9070 XT saw a modest 5% uplift. Oddly, the 9070 XT outperformed the RTX 5080 using the provided drivers. This was unexpected, given Nvidia granted us early access to the game and requested that we highlight the RTX features of their GeForce 50 series. We agreed to do so, because you know we are benchmarking RTX graphics cards, and those features are relevant. But anyway, even with the Medium preset, the Radeon GPU saw only an additional 8% boost, while the GeForce GPU improved by just 2%. Dropping to Low yielded a further 14% increase for the 9070 XT and a 13% gain for the RTX 5080. This means that, compared to the highest quality preset, the Low preset offers just an 18% performance improvement for the RTX 5080 and 29% for the 9070 XT. It's a bit surprising to see such limited performance scaling across the presets. There's virtually no difference among the top four settings, a small gain with Medium, and another modest boost with Low. This will be disappointing news for those with lower-end hardware hoping the Low and Medium presets would provide more substantial performance improvements. Now, the reason for this minimal scaling becomes clear when examining the visual differences between presets. So let's take a quick look at those now… Image Quality Comparison In this first example, there's almost no noticeable difference between all six presets (and that's not because of image compression), there simply isn't much difference. Even when viewing the native presentation in-game, we couldn't spot a difference between the top four presets, they all looked exactly the same to us. Even when comparing Medium to Ultra Nightmare, any differences are minimal. Perhaps the distant shadow quality is slightly better, but it's very hard to tell. Next, we have the Low preset, and once again, the overall presentation is extremely similar to Ultra Nightmare. The textures on the weapon appear slightly softer, and the distant tower shows a reduction in lighting quality, but otherwise, the two look quite alike. This second example highlights close-up details, and again, there's almost no visible difference between Low and Ultra Nightmare. We restarted the game between changes to ensure each setting was properly applied, but it made no difference. The most noticeable variation we found was in this example featuring a muddy surface. That said, the Ultra Nightmare, Nightmare, Ultra, High, and even Medium presets all looked identical to us. With the Low preset, some detail is lost and reflections are reduced, but overall, the difference between the highest and lowest quality settings is extremely minimal. Before moving on, here's a comparison of a scene with intense fire effects and close-up rubble. Again, it's very difficult to identify any real differences. The same applies to this scene – we wouldn't blame you for thinking we accidentally showed the same preset six times. But rest assured, that's not the case. For a clearer view, here's a side-by-side comparison of the Ultra Nightmare and Low presets. If you look closely, you may spot some very minor differences, but they are subtle. Once again, the mud stands out as the area with the most visible variation, though even the Low setting looks respectable. Given these results, we've decided to focus our benchmarks on the Ultra Nightmare and Medium presets. Performance is virtually the same across Ultra Nightmare, Nightmare, Ultra, and High settings. For the test system, we're using the Ryzen 7 9800X3D paired with 32 GB of DDR5-6000 memory and the latest display drivers. Test System Specs Before publishing this review, we received Nvidia's latest driver (version 576.40), which did not improve performance beyond what we're showing here. At most, we observed a ~2-3% uplift. We asked Nvidia what kind of performance gains users should expect with the new driver, but they were unable to provide an answer. CPU AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D Motherboard MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi (BIOS 7E49v1A23 - ReBAR enabled) Memory G.Skill Trident Z5 RGB DDR5-6000 [CL30-38-38-96] Graphics Cards: GeForce RTX 3060 GeForce RTX 3060 Ti GeForce RTX 3070 GeForce RTX 3080 GeForce RTX 3090 GeForce RTX 4060 GeForce RTX 4060 Ti GeForce RTX 4070 GeForce RTX 4070 Super GeForce RTX 4070 Ti GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Super GeForce RTX 4080 GeForce RTX 4080 Super GeForce RTX 4090 GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 8GB GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB GeForce RTX 5070 GeForce RTX 5080 GeForce RTX 5090 Radeon RX 6600 Radeon RX 6650 XT Radeon RX 6750 XT Radeon RX 6800 Radeon RX 6800 XT Radeon RX 6950 XT Radeon RX 7600 Radeon RX 7600 XT Radeon RX 7700 XT Radeon RX 7800 XT Radeon RX 7900 GRE Radeon RX 7900 XT Radeon RX 7900 XTX Radeon RX 9070 Radeon RX 9070 XT Intel Arc A770 Intel Arc B580 ATX Case MSI MEG Maestro 700L PZ Power Supply Kolink Regulator Gold ATX 3.0 1200W Storage TeamGroup T-Force Cardea Z44Q 4TB Operating System Windows 11 24H2 Display Driver Nvidia GeForce Game Ready 576.31 AMD Radeon Adrenalin 25.5.1 Benchmarks Ultra Nightmare @ 1080p Starting with the Ultra Nightmare quality settings and using native TAA (we'll look at upscaling data shortly), the RTX 5090 delivered just 151 fps, making it a mere 3% faster than the RTX 4090. It's unclear what's going on with the GeForce 50 series GPUs, but for the most part, they offer little to no performance gain over their predecessors. In fact, the RTX 5080 was 8% slower than the 4080, which is puzzling. We performed clean installs of the GeForce driver – multiple times, in fact – but were unable to improve the performance of Nvidia's 50 series GPUs. This suggests either a driver issue, a game patch is needed, or the 50 series simply doesn't provide meaningful performance improvements over the 40 series – and in some cases, it's slower. Interestingly, both AMD's RDNA3 and RDNA4 GPUs performed exceptionally well. The 7900 XTX and 9070 XT matched the RTX 4080 Super, coming in just 16% behind the RTX 5090. The RX 9070 also matched the RTX 5080 and outperformed the 4070 Ti Super, while the 7900 XT was on par with the 5070 Ti and beat the 4070 Super. The older 6800 XT slightly edged out the new 5060 Ti, while the 7700 XT delivered similar performance with 68 fps. Below 60 fps, we find the 3060 Ti, 4060, 6750 XT, and Arc B580. Beyond that point, frame rates dip into the mid-40s, leading to a subpar experience. Ultra Nightmare @ 1440p Jumping to 1440p with Ultra Nightmare settings, the RTX 5090 dropped to an average of 125 fps – a 6% improvement over the 4090, and 30% faster than the 7900 XTX and 9070 XT. Meanwhile, AMD's flagship GPUs once again slightly edged out the RTX 4080 Super and RTX 5080. For an average of around 60 fps, the 7800 XT, 6950 XT, RTX 4070, and 5070 performed well. Even the RTX 3080 delivered 65 fps on average. The 7700 XT landed between the 8 GB and 16 GB versions of the 5060 Ti. It's worth noting that 8 GB of VRAM is sufficient for these quality settings – though, as we'll show soon, certain configurations may still run into issues, even with upscaling at 1440p. Ultra Nightmare @ 4K At native 4K, most users will likely want to enable upscaling, but for an apples-to-apples comparison, we're looking at native performance. The RTX 5090 managed 82 fps on average – solid performance – but it means just 74 fps for the 4090 and 56 fps for the 9070 XT. So unless you're using a 4090 or 5090, expect sub-60 fps performance without upscaling. Medium @ 1080p Switching to the Medium preset at 1080p, most GPUs delivered over 60 fps, including the Arc B580 and the older Radeon RX 6750 XT. However, AMD's RX 7600 series underperformed, with just 52 fps on average, while the RTX 4060 managed 64 fps. Medium @ 1440p At 1440p, the RTX 5090 reached an average of 135 fps using the Medium preset, with the RTX 4090 close behind at 130 fps. Again, the 40 and 50 series GPUs are performing much closer than expected. For example, the RTX 5080 was 8% slower than the 4080, allowing the RX 9070 to match it. The older 9700 XT also matched the 5070 Ti, while the RTX 3090 was 7% faster than the 6950 XT. The 6800 XT and RTX 3080 were nearly identical. Below this level, performance begins to fall under 60 fps. Medium @ 4K Finally, at 4K using Medium settings, the RTX 5090 achieved 89 fps – only a 9% improvement over its Ultra Nightmare result. Lower-end cards like the RTX 5070 saw an 11% uplift, but that's still disappointing. Typically, a drop from maximum to medium quality would yield at least a 40% performance gain. Instead, the 5070 only managed 41 fps, meaning even with upscaling, the experience won't be great. FSR and DLSS Upscaling Performance Here's a quick look at how FSR and DLSS upscaling compare using the 9070 XT and RTX 5080. Once again, the Radeon GPU is faster, delivering 11% more performance when rendering at native resolution. With the Quality upscaling option, that margin extends to 16%, as the Radeon GPU becomes 40% faster and the GeForce GPU sees a 34% boost. The performance gap narrows slightly to 15% with the Balanced setting, 14% with Performance, and returns to 11% with Ultra Performance. At 1440p, we recommend the Quality preset for both GPUs, as it provides the best balance between visuals and performance. VRAM Debate: 8GB vs. 16GB Now let's talk about 8 GB GPUs in Doom: The Dark Ages, specifically the new 8 GB version of the RTX 5060 Ti. For the most part, 8 GB GPUs perform reasonably well in this game, and it's clear the developer has put effort into optimizing for that configuration. This makes sense, as the majority of PC gamers are still stuck on 8 GB GPUs, largely due to AMD and Nvidia continuing to ship low-VRAM models, and appear to be actively trying to kill PC gaming, but I digress. As was the case with Space Marine 2, this game could greatly benefit from a proper 4K texture pack. While some textures look excellent, many appear low-resolution and lack detail when viewed at higher resolutions. We made similar comments about Space Marine 2, which some pushed back on – until the 4K texture pack was released. At that point, the game looked dramatically better but became unplayable on 8 GB cards. To illustrate the difference, here's a look at how the 8 GB and 16 GB versions of the RTX 5060 Ti perform at 4K using DLSS Balanced upscaling during a large horde battle. While the 16 GB model's frame rate isn't great, the game is at least playable. In contrast, the 8 GB version is completely broken in this scenario – though this is an extreme case, meant to test VRAM limits. Now, if we enabled DLSS quality upscaling at 1440p, the 8 GB 5060 Ti sees very little improvement over native performance, while the 16 GB model is roughly 40% faster. To further test VRAM saturation, we moved beyond the 30-second benchmark pass and played for several minutes. Initially, the 16 GB card was about 42% faster. But a few minutes in, VRAM usage overwhelmed the 8 GB model, tanking its performance. This resulted in the 16 GB model delivering an 82% higher average frame rate – and over 200% better 1% lows. We observed similar differences with the Nightmare and Ultra presets. Even the High preset showed some discrepancy, though Medium provided nearly identical performance and visuals, making it a more viable option for 8 GB GPUs. 2GB vs 1.5GB Texture Pool Size However, this appeared to become a non-issue once we discovered that lowering the texture pool size from the default 2 GB to 1.5 GB drastically improved performance on the 8 GB 5060 Ti at 1440p with upscaling. It matched the 16 GB model's performance with no noticeable visual degradation. We also saw no increased texture or detail pop-in, raising questions about the real benefits of the higher texture pool setting. While the game suggests that allocating more VRAM improves performance, we found no supporting evidence in our testing. This texture pool setting is especially important for users with 8 GB GPUs – particularly when using features like frame generation. With the default 2 GB pool size, DLSS multi-frame generation often failed to activate, sometimes requiring multiple restarts. Even then, performance was inconsistent. For example, in an early test of multi-frame generation, it worked as expected on the 16 GB model but reduced performance on the 8 GB version. By moving to a less demanding area, looking down at the ground, and enabling multi-frame generation from the menu, we could sometimes get it to work. It seemed we had to lower VRAM usage first, a problem that never occurred with the 16 GB model. However, dropping to the Medium preset and reducing the texture pool to 1.5 GB allowed multi-frame generation to work flawlessly on the 8 GB 5060 Ti. In fact, in that specific scenario, the 8 GB model slightly outperformed the 16 GB version, though this is likely down to run to run variance. Based on our testing, multi-frame generation is buggy on the 8 GB model and flawless on the 16 GB model. Reducing the texture pool size to 1.5 GB on an 8 GB GPU is essential. For those wondering, the texture pool size can be increased to 4 GB on a 16 GB GPU without any performance hit, though we couldn't identify any visual or performance improvements as a result. What We Learned Doom: The Dark Ages is a well-optimized game that plays smoothly at 1440p with upscaling enabled. Quality upscaling can boost performance by around 30% to 40%, allowing GPUs such as the Radeon 7700 XT and GeForce RTX 5060 Ti to average over 60 fps, which should be considered the bare minimum for modern PC gaming. The main optimization issue lies in the lack of performance scaling. At most, we saw a 30% improvement in frame rate when dropping from the maximum to the minimum quality settings. That's why the Radeon RX 6600 managed just 41 fps at native 1080p using the Medium preset. The game still looks great, but there's not much additional performance gained by lowering settings. We'd like to see an option tailored for older or lower-end GPUs that sacrifices visual fidelity more aggressively, allowing GPUs like the RX 6600 to push beyond 60 fps at 1080p. Visually, the game looks very good overall, with many impressive effects, explosions are particularly satisfying, however as noted earlier, texture quality isn't consistently high. It's reminiscent of what we observed with Space Marine 2, a game that vastly benefited from a 4K texture pack. At this stage, it seems mainstream GPUs may be holding PC gaming back. Developers are faced with a tough decision: either optimize games to fit within 8 GB of VRAM, compromising visual quality, or prioritize higher-fidelity visuals and leave behind players limited to 8 GB GPUs. Doom: The Dark Ages isn't the first game that works well on 8 GB cards but suffers in other ways because of it. We saw similar trade-offs with Black Myth: Wukong, for example. We believe games like this could look significantly better, without demanding more compute power, if 16 GB was the base VRAM configuration for PC gaming. Hopefully, as with Space Marine 2, we'll see a high-resolution texture pack released for Doom, as the results could be transformative. As for general stability, we experienced some crashes when using GeForce GPUs, especially the RTX 50 Blackwell models. While stability wasn't terrible, the game did hard-lock a few times, and we encountered multiple crashes when using frame generation on 8 GB GeForce GPUs. Reducing the texture pool size to 1.5 GB seemed to help in those cases. In contrast, we didn't encounter a single crash or issue while testing with Radeon GPUs. We were impressed by how well the 9070 series ran the game, as well as the performance of the RDNA 3 series. It will be interesting to see whether the game receives performance-related patches post-launch. We already know that path tracing is coming soon, so that will definitely be worth exploring. Until then, if you enjoyed our work on this article, share it, subscribe to our newsletter for content updates, and check out our TechSpot Elite subscription option to remove ads and receive more perks. Shopping Shortcuts: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT on Amazon Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 Ti on Amazon Nvidia RTX 5060 Ti 16GB on Amazon AMD Radeon RX 9070 on Amazon Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 on Amazon AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 on Amazon