Cold weather is an especially rough time for keeping track of ones keys so many more layers with so many more pockets really, they could be anywhere. Stick a Bluetooth tracker on your keyring and suddenly finding items is as easy as tapping a button in an app. Of course, these trackers are good for bags, luggage, wallets and even jackets themselves. And if something goes missing out in the city, an anonymous finding network can help lead you to your lost item. We tested out most of the major tracker brands out there, comparing their everyday utility, compatibility, the size of the connected networks and other handy features to help you find the best Bluetooth tracker for you. What to look for in a Bluetooth tracking device Bluetooth trackers are small discs or cards that rely on short-range, low-energy wireless signals to communicate with your smartphone. Attach one of these gadgets your stuff and, if its in range, your phone can ring the chip so you can find it. These tracking devices offer other features like separation alerts to tell you when youve left a tagged item behind, or where a lost item was last detected. Some can even tap into a larger network of smartphones to track down your device when youre out of range. Depending on what you want the tracker to do, there are a few specs to look for when deciding which to get. Device compatibility Like most things from the folks in Cupertino, AirTags only work with products in the Apple ecosystem. The company has opened up access to its Find My network to third-party manufacturers, including Chipolo and Pebblebee. Those finders work with Apple's large tracking network, but only pair with Apple devices. Chipolos classic trackers will work with either Android or Apple devices, as will Tile trackers. Samsungs latest fob, the Galaxy SmartTag2, only works with Samsung phones, but new tags from Chipolo and Pebblebee that rely on Googles new Find My Device network will work with any Android phone (running Android 9 or later). Finding network Crowd-sourced finding capabilities are what make headlines, with stories about recovering stolen equipment or tracking lost luggage across the globe. Using anonymous signals that ping other peoples devices, these Bluetooth tracking devices can potentially tell you where a tagged item is, even if your smartphone is out of Bluetooth range. Apples Find My network is the largest, with over a billion iPhones and iPads in service all running Apples Find My app by default. So unless an iPhone user opts out, their phone silently acts as a location detector for any nearby AirTags. Apple recently increased the AirTags finding power by enabling you to share the location of a lost tag with a third party, like an airline. Chipolo fobs that work on Apples network have the same ability. Now that Googles Find My Device network is up and running, its a close second for the largest in the US. Like Apple, Android users are automatically part of the network, but can opt-out by selecting the Google services option in their phones Settings app and toggling the option in the Find My Device menu. Samsungs SmartTag 2 and related network also defaults to an opt-in status for finding tags and other devices. Tile offers a large finding grid that includes Tile users, Amazon Sidewalk customers and people running the Life360 network. Life360 acquired Tile in 2021, and, according to the company, the Life360 network has more than 70 million monthly active users. In our tests, AirTags offered nearly real-time location data and were quickest to find items abandoned in spots around Albuquerque, including a bar, bookstore and coffee shop in Nob Hill, along with various outdoor hangouts on UNMs campus. Samsung's SmartTags were able to locate our lost items most of the time, though not with the same precision finding accuracy as AirTags. Googles newish Find My Device network was a little slower than Apples network when using the community finding feature, but the accuracy was better than Samsung. In our tests, Tiles finding network wasnt able to consistently locate its lost fobs. Chipolos classic trackers, on the other hand, dont have much of a crowd-sourced network to speak of. Yet as we used the trackers, the size of the finding network started to feel less important in the face of typical, everyday use cases. It was their ability to out-perform in every other way that boosted Chipolos classic trackers to the top of our list. Amy Skorheim / Engadget Separation alerts Heres where a trackers day-to-day utility really shines. A separation alert lets you know when youve traveled too far from your tagged items, which is useful if you want to make sure your laptop bag, or jacket or umbrella always comes with you when you leave the house. These notifications work when youre out and about too. If youve got a Bluetooth tracking device in your wallet and walk out of a restaurant without it, the separation alert should kick in, resulting in fewer lost items. This feature also tells you where your tagged item and phone were last paired, allowing you to retrace your steps if you happen to miss the alert. Each tracker handles left-behind items differently. Both AirTags and Chipolo include the feature by default. Tile trackers require a yearly subscription to enable the alerts (currently $30 per year). And tags working with the Google Find My Device network dont offer the feature at all. Both AirTags and Tiles allow you to turn off separation alerts at certain locations, meaning you can set your home as a safe place where items can be left behind, but alerts will still trigger elsewhere. Chipolo doesnt offer safe locations, but you can toggle out-of-range alerts on a per-item basis. In our tests, the Chipolo sent an alert after we got between 250 and 450 feet away from our tagged item. AirTags alerted us between the 600- and 1,400-foot mark. And Tiles sent a notification after about an average of 1,500 feet. Tile notifications were more consistent when using an Android phone than an iPhone. Connectivity, volume and design The feature you may use most often is the key finder function, which makes the tracker ring when you hit a button in the app. With Apple's AirTags, you can say "Hey Siri, where are my keys?" and the assistant will ring the tag (assuming it doesn't mistakenly think you're asking for directions to the Floridian archipelago). Asking Alexa or the Google Assistant to find your keys will work with Chipolo, Tile and Pebblebee trackers linked to your Android device. The SmartTag2, Tile, Chipolo classic and Pebblebee trackers using the Pebblebee app will also let you double click the device itself to make your phone ring. AirTags and any third party tags running on either the Find My (Apple) or Find My Device (Google) app dont offer this feature. The volume of the Bluetooth tracking device may determine whether you can find an item buried in your couch cushions or in a noisy room. AirTags have a reputation for being on the quiet side, and that aligned with what we saw (measuring roughly 65 decibels). All three versions of Chipolos keychain-style tags and Tiles Pro model were the loudest, measuring between 83 and 86 decibels on average. Design will determine what you can attach the tracker to. AirTags are small, smooth discs that cant be secured to anything without accessories, which are numerous, but that is an additional cost to consider. Chipolo, Pebblebee and Tile offer trackers with holes that easily attach to your key ring, and all three companies also offer card-shaped versions designed to fit in your wallet. Batteries are replaceable for AirTags, Tile Pro and Chipolo One; the first two have a one-year battery life and the Chipolo can go up to two years. Tile Mate and all card-shaped trackers dont have replaceable batteries, which means youll have to replace the entire unit whenever it dies. Pebblebee trackers are rechargeable and come in both a key fob and wallet variety. Stalking, theft and data privacy AirTags have gotten a lot of attention and even prompted some lawsuits for Apple due to bad actors planting them on people in order to stalk them. While this fact may not influence your buying decision, any discussion of Bluetooth trackers should note what steps Apple, Google and Tile have taken to address the issue. Last year, all the major players in the Bluetooth tracker business teamed up to combat misuse and standardize how unauthorized tracking detection and alerts work for iOS and Android. Last year, Tile launched a feature called Anti-Theft Mode, which enables you to render one of its trackers undetectable by others. That means if someone steals your tagged item, they wont be able to use the anti-stalking features to find and disable the tracker. That sort of negates one of the major ways potential stalking victims can stay safe, so Tile hopes ID verification and a $1 million penalty will deter misuse. Separately, Tile was recently hit by a data breach, raising different privacy concerns. The company issued a statement about the event, which it shared with Engadget: Similar to many other companies, Life360 recently became the victim of a criminal extortion attempt. We received emails from an unknown actor claiming to possess Tile customer information. We promptly initiated an investigation into the potential incident and detected unauthorized access to a Tile customer support platform (but not our Tile service platform). The potentially impacted data consists of information such as names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and Tile device identification numbers. It does not include more sensitive information, such as credit card numbers, passwords or log-in credentials, location data, or government-issued identification numbers, because the Tile customer support platform did not contain these information types. We believe this incident was limited to the specific Tile customer support data described above and is not more widespread. We take this event and the security of customer information seriously. We have taken and will continue to take steps designed to further protect our systems from bad actors, and we have reported this event and the extortion attempt to law enforcement. We remain committed to keeping families safe online and in the real world. As a theft deterrent, a Bluetooth tracker may or may not be the best option. Anecdotal stories abound in which people have recovered stolen goods using a tracker but other tales are more cautionary. Neither Apple nor Google promotes its trackers or finding networks as a way to deal with theft. GPS trackers, on the other hand, are typically marketed for just that purpose. How we tested Before deciding on which trackers to test, we researched the field, looking at user reviews on Amazon, Best Buy and other retailers, along with discussions on sites like Reddit. We also checked out what other publications had to say on the matter before narrowing down our picks to Apple AirTag, Tile and Chipolo trackers. When Samsung's SmartTag 2 came out in October of 2023, we added that to our testing, along with Pebblebee's rechargeable Chip tracker. After Google launched its Find My Device network we added compatible fobs from Chipolo and Pebblebee to the mix. Heres the full list of every tracker we tested: Apple AirTag Chipolo Card Spot Chipolo One Spot Chipolo One Chipolo Card Pebblebee Clip Samsung SmartTag 2 Chipolo One Point Pebblebee Clip for Android Tile Pro (2024) Tile Mate (2024) Tile Mate (2022) Tile Pro (2022) Tile Slim (2022) After acquiring the trackers, I tested each one over the course of a few weeks using both an iPhone 11 and a Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra. I recreated likely user experiences, such as losing and leaving items behind at home and out in the city. I planted trackers at different spots near downtown Albuquerque, mostly concentrated in and around the University of New Mexico and the surrounding neighborhood of Nob Hill. Later, I conducted tests in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle. Each test was performed multiple times, both while walking and driving and I used the measure distance feature on Google Maps to track footage for alerts. I paid attention to how easy the app was to use, how reliable the phone-to-tracker connection was and any other perks and drawbacks that came up during regular use. Other trackers we tested Tile Pro and Tile Mate (2024) Tile recently came out with a new suite of trackers, replacing the Tile Mate, Tile Pro, Tile Sticker and Tile Slim with updated models. In addition to fun new colors for the Mate and Slim, Tile added an SOS feature that can send a notification to your Life360 Circle when you triple press the button on the tracker. Its a clever addition that turns your keys into a panic button, something offered by personal safety companies as standalone devices. There are a few caveats: You and the people you want to notify in an emergency will need the Life360 app installed on your phones. If you want your Tile to also trigger a call to emergency services, youll need a $15-per-month Life360 subscription (thats in addition to a Tile membership, which starts at $3/month or $30 annually). And enabling the SOS triple-press disables the ability to ring your phone with the fob. I tested the SOS feature and it did indeed send a text message to my Circle, with the message that I had triggered an SOS and a link to a website that showed my current location. I thought it odd that the link didnt open the Life360 app (which shows the location of users' phones), but I wasnt as much concerned with Tiles personal safety features as I was with the tracking capabilities, which turned out to be less than ideal. For my tests, I planted Tile trackers in a densely populated area of Seattle (about 15,000 people per square mile). After setting the trackers to lost in the Tile app, I waited. After four hours, one of the trackers was not discovered by the finding community, so I went and retrieved it. Another fob I planted alerted me that the tracker had been found by the Tile community after three hours but the location it gave me was off by a third of a mile. I then decided to plant a tracker in the most populated place I could think of the dried fruit and nuts aisle of a Trader Joes on a Friday evening before a major holiday. It still took over a half an hour before another Tile user anonymously pinged my lost tracker. In my tests with Samsungs trackers and the fobs on Googles Find My Device network, it took around ten minutes for them to be discovered. AirTags took half that time and all were tested in a far less populated city. Four hours with no ping and over a half hour before getting a hit in a crowded TJs were pretty long stretches. Our top pick, the classic Chipolo, has virtually no finding network. But if youre getting a tracker for that feature alone, you should go with AirTags if you have an iPhone or the Google-enabled Chipolo or Pebblebee trackers if you use an Android phone. We prefer the Chipolo because it works with either iOS or Android devices, it rings loud, its quick to tell you when youve left it behind and it connects nearly instantly when youre searching for a misplaced tracker around the house. Tile devices also work with both mobile operating systems and its latest models are indeed louder than they were before. But they arent as quick to connect and you need to pay for a membership to activate left-behind alerts. And when you do, those notifications dont kick in as quickly as they do with competing trackers. Bluetooth tracker FAQs Which Bluetooth tracker has the longest range? Both the Tile Pro and the Samsung Galaxy SmartTag2 claim a maximum range of around 400 feet, which is longer than the 200-foot claim for most of Chipolos tags. Apple doesnt make similar claims for AirTags. Any Bluetooth signal, however, is dependent on a few factors. Obstacles like walls and people can block the signal, so a clear line of sight is the only way to achieve the maximum range. Other signals, like Wi-Fi, can also interfere with Bluetooth connections. Even high humidity can have an effect and lessen the distance at which your phone will connect to your tracker. Remember, when considering the range of Bluetooth trackers, the size of the finding network also comes into play. This is the number of nearby phones that can be used to anonymously ping your tracker when your own phone is out of Bluetooth range. As of now, Apple AirTags have the largest network, followed by Googles Find My Device, Samsungs finding community, Tiles Life360 members and finally Chipolos own network. What is the best Bluetooth tracker for a car? Bluetooth trackers are designed to track small, personal items like keys, jackets, backpacks and the like. All trackers have safeguards to prohibit the tag from being used to stalk people, so most will alert someone if a tracker that does not belong to them is detected following them. That means a car thief may get tipped off that theres a tracker in the car theyre trying to steal. That said, youll see plenty of stories about people finding their car thanks to a Bluetooth tracker. Some police departments have even handed out trackers to combat high rates of carjacking. In most instances, the tracker of choice has been AirTags thanks to their wide finding network. How accurate are Bluetooth trackers? Accuracy for Bluetooth trackers can be looked at in two ways: Finding items nearby and finding items misplaced outside your home. For nearby items, youll most often use the ring function on the device to hunt it down. Two tags, Apples AirTags and Samsungs Galaxy SmartTag2, also use ultra-wideband technology, which creates directional navigation on your phone to get you within a foot of the tracker. Accurately finding lost items outside your home depends on the size of the finding network. Since this relies on the serendipity of a random phone passing within Bluetooth range of your tracker, the more phones on a given network, the better. And since Bluetooth ranges and distance estimates are only precise within about a meter or so, getting pings from more than one phone will help locating items. Here again, its worth noting that Apples Find My network is the largest, followed by Google, Samsung, Tile and Chipolo (both Chipolo and Pebblebee have fobs that work with the Apple and Google networks).This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-bluetooth-tracker-140028377.html?src=rss

As digital innovation accelerates, so does the scale and sophistication of cyber threats, particularly Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks.

Out of the old Domino Sugar Refinery in Brooklyn, a trio of techies has raised $10 million for Merit Systems to focus on fixing an open-source problem.

Millions of people across the Los Angeles area are being exposed to wildfire smoke as fires burn through homes and vehicles. The fires in January 2025 have burned thousands of structures, along with the building materials, furniture, paints, plastics, and electronics inside them.When materials like these burn, they can release toxic chemicals with the potential to harm people breathing the air downwind.A 2023 study of smoke from fires in the wildland-urban interfaceareas where urban neighborhoods bleed into the wildlandsfound it contained a vast array of chemicals harmful to humans. They include hydrogen chloride, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, and a range of toxic organic compounds, including known carcinogens such as benzene, as well as toluene, xylenes, styrene, and formaldehyde. The researchers also found metals in the smoke, including lead, chromium, cadmium, and arsenic, which are known to affect several body systems, such as the brain, liver, kidney, skin, and lungs.The short-term effects of exposure to smoke like this can trigger asthma attacks and cause lung and cardiac problems.But smoke can also have long-term effects, and those are less well understood. As an environmental toxicologist who focuses on wildfire smoke health effects, I, along with many of my colleagues, am increasingly concerned about the impact of long-term and repeated exposures to wildfire smoke that more people are now facing.Long-term smoke exposure is increasingNationwide, the acreage burned in wildfires in the U.S. has nearly doubled each decade since 1990. That is changing how people are exposed to wildfire smoke.Communities have found themselves blanketed in smoke for days and weeks at a time increasingly often. In 2023, massive wildfires in Canada repeatedly spread thick smoke into many U.S. communities. Controlled burns, which firefighters set to clear away flammable brush and reduce the severity of future wildfires, also add smoke to the air.Wildfire smoke is now the leading source of PM2.5microscopic particulate matter than can penetrate into the lungsin the Western U.S.This growing exposure increases the need to understand the long-term consequences of living and working in wildfire-risk areas.Dose, duration and frequency matterWhen scientists study the health risks of wildfire smoke, they tend to use analysis methods that were developed to assess health effects caused by low-level, chronic, urban air pollution exposurespicture car exhaust or smokestack emissions. However, these approaches fail to capture the dynamic and intense nature of wildfire smoke.Researchers suspect there are differing consequences for people exposed to smoke at varying intensities and durations. Repeated exposure to wildfire smoke may also have compounding health effects over time.Comparing concentrations of PM2.5 among fire locations shows how dynamic wildfire smoke can be, and how exposures differ by intensity and time. The spikes reflect nearby wildfires. New Albany, Ohio, shows a typical baseline level without fires. [Image: Jason D. Sacks, et al., 2025]To study the long-term impact of wildfire smoke, scientists need to know how much smoke people were exposed to, for how long and how often. Thats not an experiment anyone can conduct on humans in a lab, but the data can be gathered from communities being affected by wildfires.Right now, however, this kind of data collection is rare.Most studies that have explored long-term exposure, such as its impact on dementia or pregnancy, have used an average exposure over years rather than detailed data on exposures.A few have focused on specific events. For example, a study of residents who had been exposed to six weeks of smoke during the 2017 Rice Ridge Fire near Seeley Lake, Montana, found their lung function was significantly reduced for at least two years after the fire. That was a forest fire, and while burning vegetation is bad, its generally thought to be less toxic than burning buildings.Thinking differently about smoke exposureImproving understanding of the long-term effects of wildfire smoke will require thinking differently about smoke.If epidemiologists can begin clearly defining the negative health effects from wildfire smoke exposure in terms of dose, duration, and frequency in their studies, taking into account the dynamic and episodic nature, then toxicologists can model these human experiences in animal experiments.These experiments would have the potential to improve the understanding of the long-term health risks and then help scientists develop effective guidelines and strategies to mitigate harmful exposures.Luke Montrose is an assistant professor of environmental and radiological health sciences at Colorado State University.This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Are you exhibiting or holding an event at Milan design week? Get your event listed in Dezeen's digital guide to the festival, which will feature the week's key events.Taking place from 7 to 13 April, Milan design week is the world's largest celebration of design.If you're hosting a fringe event, collectively known during the festival as Fuorisalone, or taking part in Salone del Mobile, get in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team to be featured in the guide.The guide will feature exhibitions, talks, fairs, open showrooms and product launches by global brands, taking place across the city's participating districts, such as Brera Design District, Isola Design District, Tortona Design Week and 5Vie Design Week.The 2025 festival also marks the 63rd edition of design fair Salone del Mobile, which will run from 8 to 13 April at Fiera Milano, which will be presenting the biennial Euroluce lighting exhibition.This year's guide will also feature an interactive map, highlighting the events featured in the guide and helping you navigate the city during the design week.How to get listed in Dezeen's digital guide to Milan design weekGet in touch with the Dezeen Events Guide team at eventsguide@dezeen.com to book your listing or to discuss a wider partnership with Dezeen. There are three pricing tiers:Standard listings cost 125 and include the event name, date and location details plus a website link. These listings will also feature up to 50 words of text about the event. Standard listings are included at the discretion of the Dezeen Events Guide team.Enhanced listings cost 175 and include all of the above plus an image at the top of the listing's page and a preview image on the Dezeen Events Guide homepage. These listings will also feature up to 100 words of text about the event.Featured listings cost 350 and would include everything as part of an enhanced listing plus a post on @dezeen Threads channel, inclusion in the featured events carousel on the right hand of the homepage for up to two weeks and 150 words of text about the event. This text can include commercial information such as ticket prices and offers and can feature additional links to website pages such as ticket sales, newsletter signups etc.About Dezeen Events GuideDezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year.The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks.For more details on inclusion in the Dezeen Events Guide, including in our guide to Milan design week, please email eventsguide@dezeen.com.The illustration is by Justyna Green.The post Get listed in Dezeen's digital guide to Milan design week 2025 appeared first on Dezeen.

Why mess with what works?

With the court signaling it will release a decision on Friday, lobbyists for the app pushed lawmakers to shift course.

MacworldApple added support for the Google-supported RCS (Rich Communication Services) message standard with iOS 18. RCS was created by the cellular industry to add advanced media and other features to messaging that would work across operating systems. Google adopted RCS in Android about five years ago, and its available for most phones that can run Android 5 (Lollipop, 2014) or later. The standard requires carrier upgrades, and nearly all have made them.Turning on RCS for your iPhone lets Android users send and receive messaging information or formatting that previously was limited to Android-to-Android (via RCS) or Apple-to-Apple (via iMessage). This includes read receipts that show when the recipient has viewed a message (if they have that option enabled), emoji tapbacks, extremely long messages, and audio messages. (iMessages appear as blue bubbles in a Messages conversation and only work among people using Apple hardware. SMS, MMS, and RCS messages appear as green bubbles.)You can enable or disable RCS in iPhone 18 via Settings > Apps > Messages > RCS Messaging. Disabling RCS doesnt prevent you from communicating with Android users; instead, your iPhone reverts to interactions with them via SMS or MMS.Opt in or out of RCS via Settings > Apps > Messages.FoundryApples version of RCS doesnt yet support group texting. It also lacks the end-to-end encryption available with supported Android-to-Android RCS and is mandatory for iMessage. Your iPhone to Android messages are sent as if they passed over a secure web connection: they are encrypted and decrypted by servers on either end instead of only on your devices and that of recipients. An industry effort is underway to create an encryption standard that Apple would be able to use.This Mac 911 article is in response to a question submitted by a Macworld reader.Ask Mac 911Weve compiled a list of the questions we get asked most frequently, along with answers and links to columns:read our super FAQto see if your question is covered. If not, were always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours tomac911@macworld.com, including screen captures as appropriate and whether you want your full name used. Not every question will be answered; we dont reply to emails, and we cannot provide direct troubleshooting advice.

Leaked images of the next iPhone SE provide an early glimpse at its updated design and reveal new details about the budget-friendly device, including some color options.iPhone SEApple's budget-friendly iPhone SE lineup has always been about offering great performance at an affordable price. Now, rumors suggest the fourth-generation model will pack even more premium features, making it an exciting option for value-conscious buyers.Here's everything we've heard so far about the iPhone SE 4. Rumor Score: Likely Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Set your scopes on Sniper Elite: Resistance, the latest entry in Rebellions long-standing military stealth-slash-shooter series. Sure, the lack of innovation in this upcoming title might make it seem as though Resistance is mere DLC repackaged as a full-size game, and whilst events here take place adjacent to Sniper Elite 5 Resistances campaign length will eclipse its predecessor. Theres a handful of new things which well go over in this article too. So, without further ado, herere 15 gameplay things you need to know before you pull the trigger on Sniper Elite: Resistance.Its more of the sameWe dont mean this disparagingly. If you enjoyed Sniper Elite 4 or 5 and thought hey, Id love some more of this then Sniper Elite: Resistance is right up your alley. After all, the Sniper Elite series is famed for its blend of unparalleled sniping mechanics, stealth, and tactical third-person gameplay. Theres not an awful lot else like it. And with the developer stating they believe therere still valuable stories to tell in Western Europes domain of World War II, then Sniper Elite: Resistance is shaping up to be a worthy entry in the series.MapsThe games setting is in 1944, with the sprawling streets of Nazi patrolled Paris the most prominent environ shared thus far. The map here indicative of the maps traversable throughout the game is a sprawling, labyrinthine network of cobble streets and dusky alleyways, perfect foray for sneaking and parkour. Cities are dense with Gestapo patrols, unpredictable motorcycle riders, and enemy snipers perched within their eagles nests. A raft of fortified structures, from buildings to bridges, harbour multiple routes, approaches, and choke points to force numerous creative playstyles.Player agencySniper Elite as a series is typified by player agency, brilliant sandboxes fostering open-ended mission structure. As youd expect, Sniper Elite: Resistance is no different. Here, there are multiple ways to complete your missions, from choosing numerous infiltration and extraction points, to taking on optional objectives and side missions.MissionsMissions in Sniper Elite: Resistance comprise a main objective take out a Nazi commander, for instance plus numerous optional side objectives such as infiltrating an informants dwelling, locating allied hangouts, destroying German weapon caches, and so on. Collectibles dot throughout the cityscape too, including items which yield important intel. As this is a sandbox, youre free to undertake as many or as little of these side objectives as you like, in whatever order you please.Kill list targetsAlongside each missions major objective therell be an optional target on your kill list. Kill lists have been a thing in Sniper Elite for a while, and theyre composed of rogues who have wronged the allies in some shape or form, and we expect Sniper Elite: Resistance will function the same. Each kill list target can be killed via traditional means knifing, gunning down, and of course, sniping but in prior titles thereve been kill list challenges tasking you with knocking off your target in increasingly outlandish ways.Propaganda missionsIf all this sounds overly familiar thus far we did say Sniper Elite: Resistance is more of the same then prepare to hear about something new. Sniper Elite: Resistance has a novel gameplay mode in the form of propaganda missions, which is brand-new side content activated after locating propaganda posters dotted throughout each missions level. Here, youll undertake objectives in the role of a French resistance fighter across the same location but in a different time period. Therell be stealth and sniping challenges, with the idea being to replay these missions to chase high scores.New protagonistAnother first for the series, your player character for Sniper Elite: Resistance is British soldier Harry Hawker whom players of Sniper Elites 3 through 5 will recognise as gruff series mainstay Karl Fairburnes co-op partner. In Sniper Elite: Resistance the similarly gruff Hawker occupies a story which takes place alongside Fairburnes from Sniper Elite 5. Both games are similar in length, and thus according to developer Rebellion ensures both games exist as companions of each other.Advanced sniping mechanics returnSorry to beat this over the head, but Sniper Elites advanced sniping mechanics will be returning in full force for this latest entry. Its a game centred on observation, of course, so alongside surveying the landscape and watching for enemy patrol patterns youll need to focus your crosshairs on elemental factors like wind speed and direction. For undetectable takedowns, your gunfire will need to be masked in environmental sounds the whirring of a passing lorry engine or the crackle of a local loudspeaker, for instance.X-ray kill cams still a thingBecause of course they are, the star of Sniper Elites show has always been the bullets. Every slug blasted out of the barrel of your rifle refocuses the camera, a slomo visage of visceral blood and mulch as your projectile penetrates your target, ripping flesh, eviscerating organs, and shattering bone in a glorious display of x-ray ultraviolence. This staple of the series has been expanded for Sniper Elite: Resistance whereby sniper rifles now share the gory event with every gun in the game. Handguns, carbines, and machine guns, for example, will now all trigger the same x-rayd viewpoint of your enemys innards.Large arsenal of authentic weaponrySniper Elite: Resistance will provide a smorgasbord of authentic World War II weaponry to wield in the hands of new protagonist Harry Hawker and owing to his British allegiance many of the guns in his arsenal will stray away from the established American made weapons Karl Fairburne carried into battle. For example, two versions of the British-made Lee Enfield bolt action sniper rifle will be at Hawkers disposal alongside British submachine gun the Sten Mk. II. German MP40s and Karabiner 98ks can be adopted too together with infamous American-made sniper rifle the M1903 Springfield. Theres a ton more, with the entire arsenal likely not yet revealed.Weapons are customisableAs you traipse through Sniper Elite: Resistances levels you may encounter hidden workbenches (there are three in each level). Each workbench unlocks a range of upgraded attachments for your firepower including scopes, stocks, muzzles, and suppressors. Each upgrade supports a style of play, with different weapon elements occupying four key stats of power, rate of fire, control, and mobility. For example, choosing attachments which maximise rate of fire will foster a more gung-ho approach to mission completion whilst a powerful scope and suppressor to boost power and control will support the games marquee stealth.Multiplayer modesDeveloper Rebellion have confirmed that familiar multiplayer game modes will be returning for Sniper Elite: Resistance, including deathmatch, no-cross, and survival, the latter of which taking place in sixteen player arenas.Axis invasion returnsA distinct multiplayer mode from Sniper Elite 5 will be returning in Sniper Elite: Resistance. Axis invasion infiltrates your mission with an invading player who can stall your progress via stealth, sniping, or other more extravagant means. Of course, the same is true for you; youre free to invade another players game to stop them completing their objectives too.Accessibility featuresAs is becoming increasingly commonplace in video games Sniper Elite: Resistance will feature a raft of accessibility features. In fact, Rebellion reckons the series latest instalment will feature the most in-depth accessibility options to date. Difficulty customisation, tutorials, subtitles, and on-screen text aside, therell be colour blindness modes, customisable audio levels with individual sliders for hit feedback, dialogue, and enemy awareness cues. Aim assist, control remapping, and accessible gamepad options round out the games features.PC requirements (and itll be PS5 Pro enhanced)Yep, saying it again, Sniper Elite: Resistance will include a PS5 Pro version. However, what exactly those enhancements will be is unclear for now. For PC requirements youll need a minimum Intel CPU Core i5-9400f or equivalent processor, Nvidia 2060 6GB or equivalent GPU, 16GB RAM, DirectX version 12, and 90GB of storage space. Recommended requirements havent been revealed yet. And just because we havent said it yet, the game comes out January 30th.