Another day, another Nintendo Switch 2 leak - this time pertaining to images that purport to be of a Joy-Con for Nintendo's Switch successor.As Tom reported a little while back, we've had a fair idea what Switch 2 will look like for a while - at least since a prototype console shell and internal components surfaced online in late September. But recent weeks have seen further images posted, this time by accessory companies now taking orders for Switch 2 add-ons, which show close estimations for Nintendo's next console in greater detail.The 20 best Switch games money can buy - How many do YOU own?Watch on YouTubeNow we have brand-new images of what's reported to be the new generation of Joy-Con controllers with magnetic Joy-Con attachments and an additional button below Home on the right Joy-Con.Reportedly originating from China, the Joy-Con shows off its new magnetic attachment as well as revised colour palette which differs from existing Joy-Cons. To see this content please enable targeting cookies.If the images are authentic - and right now, there is no proof - it looks like we can also expect enlarged SL and SR buttons, too, and maybe even a mouse-like optical sensor. You can check the photos out yourself in the X post above or in the subreddit thread embedded below:New Alleged Switch 2 Joy-Con Photos Shared from Chinese SNS byu/thisSubIsAtrocious inGamingLeaksAndRumoursTo see this content please enable targeting cookies.If the images are not fake and do indeed originate from a Chinese factory that's manufacturing the new machines (apparently, the Joy-Con has a system serial number that is allegedly validated by Nintendo's Check Warranty page), it seems increasingly unlikely Nintendo will exceed its self-imposed deadline of 31st March 2025 to show off its Switch successor.When it does arrive, fans expect next year's long-awaited blockbuster Metroid Prime 4 to launch on Nintendo's new hardware. Nintendo has also confirmed that Switch 2 will be backwards compatible.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereFortnite has transcended the boundaries of gaming, evolving into a cultural juggernaut that effortlessly integrates into the world of real-life merchandise. Epic Games has forged exciting partnerships with leading brands such as Hasbro that have transformed in-game items into real-world collectibles, including Nerf blasters inspired by the legendary Scar and Rocket Launcher. Epic Games has thrilled its fanbase by bringing beloved in-game cosmetics to life, transforming iconic items like Pickaxes and Boogie Bomb into toys that are ideal for cosplay. In another crossover, lifestyle collaborations such as Fortnite-themed Crocs seamlessly integrate the games striking visuals into everyday fashion, allowing players to embody the vibrant spirit.Recent leaks in the gaming community indicate that Epic is gearing up to elevate the experience with the launch of Kicks, an in-game footwear cosmetic thats set to bridge the gap between virtual and real-world shoes. Rumors are swirling about an upcoming collaboration with a leading footwear brand, igniting a wave of anticipation among fans.Fortnite-themed Adidas kicks leaked to hit shelves and Item ShopAccording to trusted leaker Loolo, Fortnite is releasing four new shoes with leading footwear brand Adidas on March 22, 2025. The limited-edition shoes will be released in all Adidas outlets and website, as well as will also arrive in the Fortnite Item Shop as Kicks cosmetics.Four new Fortnite-themed Adidas shoes are releasing soon. Image by Loolo.The four shoes leaked are as follows:Battle Ready shoes with Imagined Order and Storm Chasers design with yellow and black stripes.Fishstick-themed Orange shoes with Fishsticks eyeballs stuck near the shoe foxing.Llama-themed shoes with golden Adidas stripes and a Gold Victory Crown Llama near the shoe collar linings.Peely themed shoes with a detachable yellow peelable cover using a zipper.After the leak went viral on social media, several Fortnite players had an opinion on their design as well as the release. One such player wrote, They look somewhat cool but they look like kid sizing. Although Im interested in the vic royale shoe.Another chimed in, I was like nah but then I saw Fishstick eyes and was like oop! A third player said, They would be fools not to include a code to redeem the shoes in-game with the purchase of the real shoes.While it isnt clear whether the owners of the physical shoes would receive a redeemable code for the same in-game Kicks, players are still quite skeptical about spending money on the in-game cosmetic item due to their high pricing in the shop. FortnitePlatform(s):Android, iOS, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/XGenre(s):Action, Massively Multiplayer, Shooter9VideoGamerRelated TopicsFortnite Subscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

U.S. is considering a ban on a Chinese-made internet router that is probably already in your homeThe TP-Link router has sparked probes into possible Chinese interference through cyberattacksMadeline SherrattSunday 05 January 2025 15:28 GMTThe TP-link router branded as an Amazon bestseller has come under fire as officials suggest the device is a possible threat to national security (Amazon UK)The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USI would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read ourprivacy policyU.S. officials are flaunting the idea of an outright ban on the sales of a popular Chinese-made internet router a device that is sitting in many homes.The investigation comes as concerns have mounted over cybersecurity risks connected with router manufacturer TP-Link Technology Co. The device is listed as a best seller on Amazon, with prices ranging from $50 to $100 for most models.Established in China, but sourced from a California unit, the TP-Link router use has sparked several probes into possible Chinese interference through cyberattacks launched from the devices.Several federal agencies, such as the Commerce, Defense, and Justice departments, are investigating the product and the company behind it. All are looking at if the devices pose a security risk and could suggest a ban as soon as 2025, company sources recently told The Wall Street Journal.An office within the U.S. Department of Commerce has already reportedly subpoenaed TP-Link for information, added the sources.An analysis launched by Microsoft in October discovered that a Chinese hacking entity was maintaining a large network of compromised network devices most of which included thousands of compromised TP-Link routers, wrote the WSJ.Hackers were discovered to have targeted Western organizations such as think tanks, government organizations, not-for-profits, and defense department suppliers, through the TP-Link network, reported the outlet.The U.S. has expressed concerns with other Chinese-linked products, such as TikTok, which faces a ban in the U.S. starting next month (AP)But this is not the first time officials have expressed concerns over Chinese interference orchestrated through TP-Link. In August, U.S. lawmakers, Republican Representative John Moolenaar of Michigan and Democratic Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, urged the Biden administration to probe the TP-Link company for potential security risks.The TP-Link router reportedly accounts for 65 percent of the U.S. market and is widely used by homeowners and businesses even federal government agencies.Though it is not immediately clear whether the ban will come into force, it will likely be handled by the Trump administration in the New Year if found to breach national security.The Independent contacted TP-Links California Unit, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Chinese Embassy in Washington for comments.A TP-Link spokeswoman provided a comment to the Journal and defended their security network.We welcome any opportunities to engage with the U.S. government to demonstrate that our security practices are fully in line with industry security standards, and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the U.S. market, U.S. consumers, and addressing U.S. national security risks, they said.Fears over Chinese devices and companys backed by the Asian powerhouse are nothing new. Earlier this year, President Joe Biden signed legislation that would ban the distribution of TikTok in the U.S. if parent ByteDance fails to sell it ahead of January 19.The ban on TikTok came as officials were weary of the Chinese government being able to access sensitive U.S. user data through the app. ByteDance has appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case just days before the ban begins. Trump has also targeted China as a threat to the U.S. economy and jobs. He has suggested further tariffs - to the tune of 10 percent on top of what already exists - on Chinas products coming into the U.S. The president-elect has said the tariffs are needed to stop drug flow into the U.S. and help American companies compete with Chinese manufacturers. More aboutU.S.ChinesebanSecurityChinaJoin our commenting forumJoin thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their repliesMost PopularPopular videosSponsored Features

Critical Danger DaysThere's an official Dungeons & Dragons pinball machine coming that's a stunner to look at, has a hefty price tag, and features... My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way?There's some Critical Role cast members included too, but the real surprise as everyone's favourite emo man.Image credit: Stern Pinball/ Hasbro/ Wizards of the Coast News by Oisin Kuhnke Contributor Published on Jan. 5, 2025 Pinball lovers and Dungeons & Dragons fanatics alike will probably be interested in this lush-looking, and wildly expensive, new pinball machine.I have a real love for pinball machines - they're definitely a bit of a relic of a bygone era, but they've persisted all the same, getting more and more extravagant over the years. To be honest, I'd love to own one, if only so I don't have to fork over some much cash on them. Problem is, I'd have to fork over a whole lot more cash to buy a machine, especially if I wanted this newly revealed, official Dungeons & Dragons unit. The machine, which you can check out in a video below, comes from Stern Pinball, "the largest manufacturer of pinball games in the world," and it certainly looks like an impressive machine.Watch on YouTubeIt's an official collab with Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast, to help continue the TTRPG's 50th anniversary, which takes players on "an epic and thrilling journey as they adventure into the forgotten realms, featuring iconic enemies, including a red dragon, gelatinous cube, mimic, Sammaster the lich, Xanathar the beholder, an owlbear, and locations including those in Faern such as Arabel and Westgate." On top of that, it includes some notable D&D names like Critical Role's Matthew Mercer, Laura Bailey, and Marisha Ray, as well as Luke Gygax, son of the game's co-creator Gary Gygax.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. The wildest member of the voice cast, though, is easily Gerard Way. Yes, seemingly that Gerard Way, the one from My Chemical Romance. No, I don't know why he's in it, but if you do end up buying one it'll be a fun fact to tell people. Oh, speaking of buying it, you almost definitely won't be able to, as this thing's expensive.At minimum, you'll have to put up $7000 for the Pro edition, but the Premium version bumps that up to $9700. Even more than that though is the Limited Edition, which is only getting 740 units, costing a ridiculous $13,000. Very cool pinball machine, guys, but I think I'll pass on this one.

In BriefPosted:9:14 AM PST January 5, 2025Image Credits:X/YouTubeBad news for Adrian Dittman/Elon Musk truthersAfter days of speculation that X owner Elon Musk was secretly posting under an account named Adrian Dittman, new evidence suggests Dittman is, in fact, a real person living in Fiji.Attempts to connect Dittman and Musk go back at least to 2023; Dittman frequently makes fawning posts about Musk, and his voice (as heard on numerous X Spaces) sounds quite similar. But a story in The Spectator appears to have identified the real Dittman, the son of a German software entrepreneur whos started multiple companies in Fiji. This Dittman was included in a Fijian government video of a recent warehouse opening.Hacker and writer maia arson crimew subsequently took credit for working with Ryan Fae to track Dittman down. In a blog post, they offered more detailed evidence that the Dittman in Fiji is the Dittman on X for one thing, the Dittman in the warehouse video appears to be wearing the same ring as one featured in multiple cooking videos that Dittman posted (and subsequently deleted) on X.Crimew wrote that the Spectator article was not very good and that the pair was unhappy with how our work was used without credit.Topics

Samsungs CES presser is always an odd duck. The Korean electronics giant generally keeps its powder dry when it comes to consumer electronics. After all, its expected to announce its latest flagship handset the Galaxy S25 toward the end of January.CES 2025 is going to continue the companys tradition of TVs and appliances. There are also odds and ends like consumer robots that will most likely never see the light of day. Samsung has adopted the tagline AI for All: Everyday, Everywhere for the presentation, which kicks off on January 6 at 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET.That alone doesnt offer us much to work with. After all, any company that doesnt mention AI during its press event will be fed to the sharks at Mandalay Bay. We do have it on good authority, however, that the company will be going hard on the AI refrigerator front, come January.Samsung is streaming the presentation directly from its newsroom, and you can follow along with our live coverage here, or catch up on the other CES 2025 events being streamed here.

Sony knows how to put on a show at CES 2025. The companys pressers are high-octane, star-studded affairs, as these things go. In addition to standard Sony fare like TVs and audio systems, theres always a curve ball or two, be it a car, a drone, or a Gran Turismo movie. Thats one of the [] 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

This pre-Revolutionary double-house is located at 128-130 Prospect Hill Street in the architectural historian paradise that is Newport, Rhode Island. This property was originally platted and purchased in 1752 by Anthony Shaw. By 1760, local papers advertised the property for sale, giving a built-by date. In 1777, the house was owned by Anthony Shaw Jr. and John Thurston. The property was purchased before the Civil War and went into single-ownership, which has remained to this day. The house, while seemingly a single-family, is preserved lovingly by the owners, who even retained the second front door!

ZDNETYou probably have a lot of passwords in your life.Even with the help of password managers, passwords are becoming more and more of a burden for most people.Long gone are the days of being able to use and reuserubbish passwordslike p455w0rd123. Now, all of your online accounts need to be protected by passwords that are complex and unique.You also need to be ever vigilant in case one of your many passwords is compromised.There's a better solution: Passkeys. What are passkeys? Passkeys are an authentication method for websites and apps that were first popularized by Apple in June 2022 when the company added support in iOS and macOS. However, it's not an Apple technology. Passkeys are a standard that's promoted byGoogle, Apple, Microsoft, the World Wide Web Consortium, and the FIDO Alliance.Also: The best VPN services: Expert tested and reviewedPasskeys are sets of two cryptographic keys: a public key that's registered with the online service or app, and a private key that's stored on a device, such as a smartphone or computer.That might sound complicated, but passkeys have been designed to be easy to use. In fact, to log in with a passkey, you use your face, a fingerprint, or a PIN in much the same way you unlock your smartphone.The advantage of passkeys is that even if a hacker gets their hands on a website's public key, your account is still locked because they don't have access to the private key on your device. Show more ZDNETThe screenshot above proves the benefits: no passwords in sight, nothing that needs to be remembered, and nothing to accidentally hand over to a hacker.Passkeys can also help you get around the issue of having to synchronize passwords between your devices.Say you normally log in to your Google account using a smartphone, but you want to log in using a laptop. That's no problem, even if the passkey isn't synchronized with the laptop, as long as the smartphone is within Bluetooth range of the laptop and you approve the login.What's even cooler is that the passkey isn't transferred between the smartphone and the laptop. Instead, after confirming the login, you get the opportunity to create a passkey on the laptop. Is giving your fingerprint or face to a third-party app or website risky? No, because none of your biometric information is sent to the website or app that you are accessing. Instead, your biometric information is only used to unlock the passkey that resides on your device.Your face or fingerprint information never leaves your device. Show more What do you need to use passkeys? Here are the system requirements for passkeys:A system running at least Windows 10, macOS Ventura, or ChromeOS 109A smartphone or tablet running at least iOS 16, iPadOS 16, or Android 9Optional: ahardware security keywith FIDO2 protocol supportThe computer or mobile device you are using will also need a supported browser, such as:Chrome 109 or greaterSafari 16 or greaterEdge 109 or greaterThe major tech players all have more information about how to use passkeys on their platforms:Apple,Google, andMicrosoft.As for overall support for passkeys, data gathered byState of Passkeysshows that support for passkeys on desktop computer browsers is very close to 100%, while on mobile it averages about 85%. Show more ZDNET Which websites support passkeys? You can find a list of websites that support passkeys atpasskeys.io.Some well-known websites and apps that support the technology include Adobe, Amazon, Google (wherepasskeys now secure over 400 million accounts), GitHub, PayPal, TikTok, Nintendo, WhatsApp, Shop by Shopify, and X. Recently, eBay and Uber have also added support for passkeys.On World Password Day 2024,Microsoft rolled out passkey supportfor all its consumer accounts and will roll out passkey support for signing into mobile versions of Microsoft applications over the coming months.Passkeys are growing in popularity -- and fast. Show more Why should you use passkeys? Two reasons: speed and security.According toState of Passkeys, companies are finding that passkeys offer logins that are faster by between 2 times and awhopping 17 times for TikTok, compared to using passwords.As for security, CVS Health says that passkeys havereduced account takeover fraud by 98%.Passkeys also reduced tech calls, withState of Michigan's MiLoginseeing a 1,300 drop in password reset support calls. Show more What is 2025 likely to bring to the passkeys landscape? It seems that after getting the passkeys tech in place and rolling it out to the masses to protect online accounts and identities, the next big push will be to get banks and financial institutions on board.FIDO Executive Director Andrew Shikiarpoints outthat while banks have been slow to offer passkeys to consumers, he is "quite confident that in 2025 we'll start to see some big brand banks across the world start to deploy passkeys to allow their users to sign in and access accounts without having to use a password."And that's just part of the spread, with other areas such as travel and hospitality also likely to adopt passkeys.By the end of 2025, Shikiar expects thatone in four of the world's top 1,000 websiteswill support passkeys. Show more Has Google made passkeys the default login option for all personal accounts? Yes, Google is now asking users to create a passkey and use that passkey as the default login.Using a passkey to log in to your account is about40% faster and a lot more secure than using passwords. Google's reach means its decision will not only help spread the word about passkeys, but it will also encourage other online services to do the same.In fact, Google is clear that its plan is to make "passwords a rarity, and eventually obsolete."Not ready to use a passkey for Google yet? You can skip this option and continue to log in to your account the old way. Show more Do apps support passkeys, or do you need to use a browser, and what about iOS vs. Android? Passkeys should work, whether you access a service via a browser or an app.The experience is not universal, though. For example, Amazon has rolled out support for passkeys, but support in the app is currently only available for iOS users. These are early days for passkeys, and soon we can expect across-the-board support. Show more ZDNET How can you get a feel for how passkeys work? If you're not yet ready to take the plunge and start using passkeys, the best way to experiment with how they work is to use the demo atpasskeys.io. It will guide you through the process of setting up a passkey and how to use it to log in to a site. Show more ZDNETIf you're ready to take the plunge, a great place to start is by securing your Google account with a passkey. Not only has Google made the process easy, but there's alsoextensive documentationavailable. Are passwords dead? Unfortunately, we're a long, long way from the death of passwords. Passkeys, much likehardware security keys, offer a way for you to harden accounts and online services that support the feature.You're going to need passwords andpassword managersfor a long time yet. Show more Do any password managers support passkeys? Yes. Show more Are there any cons to passkeys? While passkeys are certainly far better than the best-case scenario with passwords, there are downsides.Many of the downsides of passkeys revolve around the fact that the technology is relatively new and the rollout has been ongoing. On top of that, we're seeing companies like Apple, Microsoft, and Google push their method of storing and sharing passcodes, and this can silo your passkeys and make them hard to access on different platforms. This is getting better with passkey management being included in password managers.Another common issue is that sites that use passkeys still demand users set a password to protect the account, thereby diluting the efficacy of passkeys.Tech siteArs Technicahas done a good job of highlighting some of the biggest issues related to passkeys. Show more All the big operating systems, as well as third-party password managers such asDashlane,1Password, andBitwarden, all support passkeys. Microsoft isalso on trackto add passkey support to its Authenticator app in mid-January 2025.These tools should help ease the transition from passwords to passkeys.These tools should help ease the transition from passwords to passkeys.Security

The two companies joined forces to create a 3D audio format that beats out Dolby in one huge way: No licensing fees.