Starting Jan. 30, the Video Game History Foundation (VGHF) will be opening its digital archives to the public. Still a work-in-progress, these archives will be one of the largest repositories dedicated to the study and preservation of video game history, and will feature over 1,500 issues of out-of-print game magazines, in addition to promotional material and other game development assets.An accessible digital archive has been a goal of the VGHF since its founding in 2017. While it would be one thing to simply scan everything in their library and drop in the Internet Archive, the VGHF was intent on making its digital archives a resource that adds value to the games that theyre preserving and is tailored to the aid in research of video game history. To that end, the digital archive will allow you to search for mentions of specific games, publishers, and authors in addition to the ability to search for oddly specific terms. Want to learn the first mention of Metroidvania? Youll be able to find it within the archive. Because uploading and cataloguing everything into the digital archive is an ongoing process, youll have the ability to sort through a collection of unprocessed material from the VGHF as well.While the physical archives of the VGHF maintains a vast library of playable titles, the current anti-circumvention rules of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) prohibit remote access. Meaning that unless the US Copyright Office grants an exception to this rule allowing the VGHF to break the copy protection on these titles, the digital archive will remain limited to visual assets.As a reminder, the Video Game History Foundation is a non-profit organization, and is reliant on donations from the public. If youd like to support the important work of preserving gaming history, you can check out the VGHF website to find the best way for you to contribute.

Infinity Nikkis version 1.2 is out now, bringing a ton of new outfits with it. Quite a few of them can be obtained for free just from participating in events or logging in, so if youre trying to maximize your closet, youll want to make sure to claim them while you can.With so many new outfits, it can be hard to keep track of what they look like and how to unlock them, but fear not were here to help. Below we list all the new outfits in Infinity Nikki 1.2, show off their evolution colors, and explain how to unlock them.Fiery GlowYou can get the Fiery Glow outfit for free as you complete the Firework Islands quests. Youll need to unlock it from your Heart of Infinity skill tree.Endless LongingYou can get the Endless Longing outfit for free by participating in the Strings of Time event, which requires you to log in over the span of multiple days and complete various simple challenges.Radiant NightYou can claim the Radiant Night outfit for free from the shop on the third day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.Sunlit GrasspomYou can claim the Sunlit Grasspom outfit for free from the shop on the second day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.Pink BunnyYou can claim the Pink Bunny outfit for free from the shop on the first day of the Heartfelt Gifts outfit giveaway event.New Years DawnThe New Years Dawn outfit is listed in the shop for 920 Diamonds.New Bloom BlessingsThe New Bloom Blessings outfit technically only costs 1 Diamond, but you need to have the Monthly Gifts perk activated, which gives you 2,700 Diamonds over the span of 30 days for $4.99.Carefree MomentsThe Carefree Moments outfit costs 300 Stellarites in the shop.Snowy FragranceThe Snowy Fragrance outfit costs 60 Stellarites in the shop.Midnight VigilThe Midnight Vigil outfit is the four-star featured outfit on the Skyward Bouquets gacha banner. It does have an ability, Floof Rally: Whimsicality, which allows you to create a parade of puppies that follows you around.Stardust FlareThe Stardust Flare outfit is the five-star featured outfit on the Skyward Bouquets gacha banner. This outfit allows Nikki to use the Sparklers: Whimsicality ability, which creates small fireworks behind Nikki.Enduring BondThe Enduring Bond outfit is the four-star featured outfit on the Fireworks Prelude gacha banner. It gives Nikki the Disguise: Whimsicality ability, which makes her teleport around using smoke clouds in set places as cards fall around her. (Note that this is not an ability that allows you to teleport it just plays an animation of her teleporting for screenshots and whatnot.)Dance Till DawnThe Dance Till Dawn outfit is the five-star featured outfit on the Fireworks Prelude gacha banner. This outfit is a skin for Nikkis gliding ability.Breezy Melodies and Blossom SilhouettesThese two outfits (Breezy Melodies and Blossom Silhouettes) technically arent available yet (as of this writing), but they both will be obtainable from four-star gacha banners that launch later in the patch.

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A comprehensive explanation.Photo taken byauthor.Every day, I talk with people struggling to find a UX design, research, or contentjob.The UX job market has never been this difficult to navigate. Even seasoned, talented UX professionals are struggling to land their next job. Many report applying to hundreds of positions without getting invited to a single interview. For some, months of unemployment have pushed them to reconsider continuing their careers inUX.I regularly hear reports of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of people applying for positions, sometimes within the first 24 hours of posting. If youre a UXer applying for work, its easy to become disheartened by the seeming fruitlessness of yourefforts.The UX job market is a mess. Heres a comprehensive guide to why and what you can do aboutit.It wasnt always thisway.Getting a UX job three years ago was much more straightforward. In fact, from the early 2000s until late 2022, landing one was much easier, as there was a heavy demand for people with UXskills.I have joked that, a few years ago, all a UX professional needed to do was sit in a darkened room and whisper, I can do UX. In an instant, a half-dozen recruiters would materialize and start bidding on who would get the UXer into the first interview. That doesnt happenanymore.UX professionals became in high demand after the infamous Dot Com crash of 20002001. That global economic crash happened because companies jumped into emerging web technology too quickly without considering the need to make websites usable. Companies realized they needed their sites to be well-designed, pushing the newly formed UX field into a growthperiod.When the iPhone arrived in 2007 and apps emerged in 2009, the need for high-quality UX became even more prominent. The field expanded further with the growth of B2B, SaaS, and consumer applications like Netflix andAirbnb.When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, while other businesses were shutting down, tech companies shifted their focus to lockdown-related businesses, such as at-home delivery and supply chain management. These all required more UXsupport.Then, we saw the most significant hiring spike in UX history. The Biden Administrations 2021 Inflation Reduction Act included special R&D tax credits. Congress believed a massive investment in new technologies would boost the economy, so tech companies took advantage of those credits to hire speculatively.From the beginning of 2021 until late 2022, companies hired massive numbers of tech workers, including UX designers, researchers, and content professionals. Many were hired to work on speculative projects like the Metaverse, crypto, and consumer-grade self-driving cars. Venture capitalists and companies invested billions of dollars in these new technologies, and great UX wascrucial.But it didnt last. The growth in the UX market suddenly inverted. Whereas previously, there were far more open positions for UX professionals than there were people to fill them, things had changed. Now, there are far more unemployed UX professionals than open positions.And the question iswhy?What didnt cause this job marketmess?Suddenly, starting in late 2022, attaining UX jobs became much more difficult, but nobody seemed to knowwhy.People posted on LinkedIn and other social networking sites that their companies were laying off their entire UX teams. Dozens, sometimes more than a hundred UX folks, were let go atonce.Theories emerged. People started talking about how UX had lost the respect of executives, and thats why companies were letting teams go. Some insinuated that corporate management thought they could replace UX professionals with inexpensive AI.The general belief was the UX industry was collapsing because it had suddenly become obsolete. We can now see, several years later, that none of this turned out to betrue.There is no evidence that anything has triggered a loss of respect for UX. While UX leaders have always struggled to demonstrate UXs full value, that did not change significantly from 2020 to 2023. Nor has there been a single documented instance of a UX person being replaced by an AItool.Instead, as I write this during the first days of 2025, more UX professionals are employed globally than ever. Some estimates put the field currently at more than 2 million people. UX folks are employed by more organizations than ever, finding themselves in every industry, from environmental safety to sewage processing to government to shipping logistics.There are now more open UX positions than ever, and the field is growing at its highestrate.Yet, there are also more unemployed UX people than ever. And thats theproblem.If this current hiring mess wasnt caused by AI or a massive, sudden devaluation of UX, what was thecause?Five things that changed to cause this messIt turns out that there wasnt one cause. Instead, five things changed simultaneously.Change 1: The tax creditexpired.In the U.S., the Republican-led Congress chose not to renew the portions of the Inflation Reduction Act that gave companies hiring and retention incentives. As a result, employees suddenly became more expensive, and tech companies started seeking ways to cutcosts.This change pushed tech companies into significant layoffs. They cited the substantial unrealized expenses in those speculative projects (we never did get our Metaverse, did we?) and cut theirlosses.Theres a myth that companies targeted UX people more in layoffs than engineering or product people. However, theres no evidence to supportthis.When Meta laid off 21,000 people in 2022 and 2023, a few hundred were UX people. That might have been the largest layoff for UX people, but the discipline was not a special target. All the other layoffs were similar. UX people were never more than a small proportion of the total people letgo.Change 2: Interest rates increased due to inflation.Since Congress did not cooperate to keep inflation down, the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank started raising interest rates. In April 2020 (right after the pandemic began), the Federal Reserve interest rate was at 0.05%. However, at the peak of inflation in June 2022, the Fed had raised the rate to1.21%.As interest rates rose, investors feared their corporate investments were no longer good deals and demanded that companies pay them back. This demand resulted in massive market stock buybacks, which allowed investors to withdraw their money. The buybacks forced companies to cut costs even further, which resulted in laying off more workers of all kinds, including UXworkers.Change 3: Bootcamp programs flooded the market with inexperienced UX professionals.Meanwhile, the speculative hiring period from 2021 to 2022 encouraged people to switch to tech fields, including UX. Low-cost boot camp programs took advantage of the demand and started a factory approach to producing graduates.Thousands of newly minted UX professionals with zero years of work experience were now competing against the recently laid-off experienced UXers for the limited number of available positions.Change 4: Automated hiring systems reduced application friction.Advances in online job sites and application tracking systems made it much easier to apply for jobs. Before these advances, Human Resources employees had to process every application. Online software now processes millions of applications with little human intervention.Because of this change, applying became as simple as uploading a rsum document and answering a few questions. Job seekers could apply to dozens of jobs eachday.Nothing in these new application tracking systems ensured only qualified candidates applied for the listed positions. Suddenly, people applied to any available position, regardless of their qualifications. The systems were flooded with unqualified candidates, and positions received hundreds of applications immediately uponopening.This change slowed the hiring process tremendously and made it more difficult for hiring managers to focus on genuinely qualified candidates.Change 5: Companies offered remote positions.Because of the pandemic, working from home was now possible, independent of the companys location. Before the pandemic, your job required you to work at an office that was an (almost) reasonable commute distance from your home. When companies started offering remote positions, you could work anywhere.This shift to remote work removed the geographic restrictions on job applications, giving applicants many more viable positions to apply to. The result was a dramatic increase in applications for every open position. And two things that shouldve changed butdidnt.There are a couple of things that, had they changed leading up to 2022, this inversion wouldve dampened if not been outright prevented.Non-change 1: UX should have gone strategic.Since its popularity in the 2000s, UX has been 100% tactical in most organizations. UX teams have devoted the bulk of their work to designing and validating specific designs. Companies started hiring Product Designers instead of UX Designers or Information Architects to create a one-size-fits-all position that works hard to deliver the least terrible products as quickly as possible.UX should have grown into more strategic roles as the field expanded and matured, but that didnt happen. Instead, UX teams remained tactical, emphasizing design aesthetics and cleaning up poorUX.This pervasive tactical approach became the de facto model of UX, with no real discussion among UX leaders about how to do anything differently. Thus, product managers and senior stakeholders had no alternative models with which towork.Organization management saw UX as an adjunct practice to support product and development efforts. The question became, How few UX folks can we get away with while keeping our development and delivery efforts moving forward? This mindset limited the value of adding more UX people toteams.Non-change 2: UX management didnt create senior opportunities.Without a strategic career path, senior UX professionals were left to hone their skills instead of learning new ones. Eventually, they became better at their practice than their companies demanded.Being at the top of your career path can become repetitive for many folks. They dont feel challenged in their work, which leads to frustration and a feeling that they cant grow without moving into a different profession, such as UX management or product management.It also limits the possibility of promotion and salary increases. Some UX folks tried changing jobs, but they quickly hit the ceiling in their new positions.Simultaneously, having the most senior people stuck at the top of the career ladder limited promotion for more junior positions. And without the current junior UXers moving up the ladder, early-career folks had limited opportunities to get their firstjobs.This lack of a career ladder created a hiring traffic jam, which increased the number of early-career UXers in the market. They looked for any opening that would take them, and they started applying to the open positions they could find, even when those early-career folks could see they didnt have enough experience for those positions. The result was hundreds of people applying to practically every open position.How long will this UX job market mess continue?When will it go back to the way it was? Not for a long time. If ever. It took 20 years to reach this inversion, and it could take a decade or more for the market to reverseagain.Another inversion would require many more open positions than available UX people to fill them. That might happen if some market changes trigger a massive increase in demand for UXpeople.There is precedent for this. After the 2001 Dot Com Crash, the companies that took their time to move into websites had just watched the first wave peak and then crash and burn. (We miss you, Pets.com sockpuppet.)Those companies could see that the web offered some value, but it was clear that success would require a thoughtful approach. Out of this clarity emerged our first massive demand forUX.The same phenomenon repeated in the early 2010s with the success of app stores and SaaS products. Investors and founders saw their chances of success increase significantly when they built strong UX efforts. (In that era, demand grew so much that banks, big-bucks consultancies, and other old-school institutions acquired entire design firms to have an already up-and-functioning team.)However, whatever massive growth trigger there may be, it wont arrive for years. Until then, this is the market well have to livewith.Navigating the newnormal.Successfully navigating this new post-inversion UX job market requires different job-seeking skills and practices than what worked before the inversion. This change is throwing many UX practitioners off their game, as what previously worked for them is no longerworking.In the pre-inversion days, hiring managers faced more challenges because fewer qualified candidates were available. Even if a candidate didnt 100% match the managers needs, they would still considerthem.Waiting for a 100%-qualified candidate could delay filling the position for weeks or months, so hiring managers would compromise with candidates who werent perfect matches. It was common for candidates to accept another companys offer because the hiring manager took too long to complete the interview process and make an offer. Even then, many candidates had multiple offers to choose from, requiring the losing companies to start the hiring process over with other candidates.In the current market, hiring managers have the luxury of passing up a close match to see if they can find someone perfectly qualified. With hundreds of applications for each open position, theres a good chance that a better match is waiting in the samepile.This new hiring climate requires significant adjustments to how candidates present themselves and how hiring managers evaluate their candidates.What you must do if youre looking for your nextjob.If youre currently looking for your next job, there are a few things you can do to make the processeasier.Dont take this personally. Even if you were let go without warning. It is not about you or your abilities.Think of the job search as a months-long project. While there are actions you can take that will reduce the length of your search, it will likely still take months. (Not like the short timeframes of the pre-inversion times.)Dont apply to jobs for which youre not highly qualified. The spray-and-pray approach of applying to every possible job doesnt work. Neither does applying to jobs youre overqualified for. These things dont increase your chances. They just clog up the hiring pipelines for everyoneelse.Work your existing network. Reach out to people who know you and your work already and ask them how theyre doing. When they reply, you can say youre in between positions and excited for your next opportunity. Your friends will automatically tell you about any positions theyre aware of, so you dont need toask.Dont search alone. To fight the loneliness and potential depression of a long job search, build a community of folks who are also looking so you can talk to others who get it. Current job seekers tell me great things about participating in the activities of ADPList and Phyl Terrys Never Search Aloneproject.Tailor your rsum, portfolio, and cover letter to the specifics in the job ad. You must demonstrate that youre 100% qualified for the position. Everything in your application submission must prove that you can do this job because youve already done it elsewhere. Everything youve done that isnt proof you can do this job becomes noise to the hiring manager, so leave it out. Only focus on what matches the hiring managers needs.Finally, take care of yourself. Seriously, this is the most important thing. Pay attention to your own needs, stay hydrated, and take long walks. Permit yourself to tackle your job search like any critical project. Give yourself room to do your best jobfinding.What you must do if you might enter the job marketsoon.You may be gainfully employed today, but what if that changes? Many folks were surprised when their organizations unexpectedly decided to cut expenses. These folks werent ready to suddenly enter the job market. Being prepared is thekey.You might also be among the UX professionals ready to move on, but todays messy job market is foreboding. There are things you can do before you jumpin.Build up your Career Management Document. Make sure you regularly collect the artifacts and journey of your work experience. A rich CMD makes responding to positions with tailored materials much more manageable, which means you can respond to positions early.Start reaching out to your existing network now. Dont wait until youre out of work to contact folks. Connect with people in your network immediately, then keep in touch every few months. That way, it wont seem like you only reach out when you need job leads (which you should never dojust ask how theyredoing).Build up a bigger network. Track who gets to know you and the quality of your work. Connect with these folks on LinkedIn or add their non-work email addresses to your contacts. Find common interests outside of work, so you have things to continue talking with them about. Networking is all about building rich, lifelong relationships. (Think of it like planting a new apple tree. It takes years for the tree to produce fruit, so you must put it in the ground as soon as possible.)Constantly survey the market. In the olden days, UX folks had recruiters regularly banging on their doors and updating them on what hiring managers were seeking. Post-inversion, reading job ads is the best way to learn what the market wants. You dont have to apply, but knowing what the market is seeking can give you insight into how to plan your career goingforward.Be a lifelong learner. Dedicate time and effort to learn new things (and document what youre learning in your CMD). The more knowledge you gain, the more expertise you can communicate with hiring managers. Too many UX professionals let themselves stop learning, just repeating identical work assignments in every project. They end up without a good story to tell their next employer about their continual desire togrow.What can you do if youre hiring new UXers for yourteam?As a UX team manager, you can make the hiring process smoother.Far too many job ads are vague and only describe the attributes that would qualify anyone who is a competent UX professional. (Real bullets from recent job ads: Must be able to communicate with team members or Leverage usability insights to guide your involvement across a broad solutionspace.)When your job ads are too vague, they signal you (or, at least, your HR department) dont know what you want from your next new hire. It turns away many of your most qualified candidates, leaving you with many less-qualified applicants. Vagueness makes it hard for highly qualified candidates to get you the evidence they are a close fit for the position.I recommend hiring managers write a First Anniversary Thank You Note to their unknown new hire. The note should describe the accomplishments you want your new UXer to achieve in their firstyear.When you publish the positions job ad, the more you can post about the details of that note, the better your applicant quality will get. Youll give potential candidates insights into the comparable experience youll use to assess their fitness for thejob.Youll get better quality applications, which will get you to an offersooner.The mess is here to stay (for a while, atleast).Its important to realize that the job market has changed significantly and will not change back for a while. Its navigable, but the most successful approaches vastly differ from those before the inversion.Those who adapt have a much higher chance of nailing their next opportunity faster. UXers who keep trying outdated approaches will likely only experience frustration without getting their desired outcome: landing a greatjob.This article was originally published on CenterCentre.com.We have many UX job search resources available in our 52,000 member UX Leader community, Leaders of Awesomeness. You can join that community forfree.Why is the UX job market such a mess right now? was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

There comes a point every winter when you have to rally together your arsenal of hot liquid meals. If you have enough recipesall your hot soups, stews, stoups, and chunky saucesthey can get you through to spring. Much to the chagrin of my friends, I call this Hot Bean Season. One of my favorite meals that fits this category is my Dutch oven beans and sausage. Its utterly simple, completely satisfying, and you need absolutely no fancy cooking skills to make it.The reason I come back to this meal again and again is because it uses the Screw It method of cookingjust dump everything in the pot. Well, the initial sausage searing is a must for flavor, but I consider that step part of the Screw It method because it allows me to skip the whole mise en place business: I use the sausages sear time to chop the other two ingredients. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann I like to make this recipe in a Dutch oven. (Dont worry, you dont need a Le Creuset, any of these cheaper ones will do perfectly.) This meal simmers for a little while, and the heavy cast iron of a Dutch oven keeps the low heat evenly distributed while the domed lid redistributes the moisture back into the sauce. That said, you could make this bangin beans and sausage in any heavy-bottomed pot or a big, wide skillet with a well-fitting lid.This dish makes me feel like Im in a cozy tavern on a snowy mountain. Thats never happened to me, but Im confident a meal like this would be available there. I use the entire can of cannellini beans, including the aquafaba. Dont drain those beans, even if you elect to use a different variety like chickpeas or red beans. The viscous liquid is full of helpful proteins and starches that will thicken the sauce beautifully. That liquid will also help dissolve the fond that builds from your seared sausage and create a deeply savory sauce. Dump all of the ingredients over the seared sausage and let it simmer. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann In my opinion, this recipe serves two people with two sausages each, but feel free to double for a bigger group or use a little more of any ingredient to make it fit your style. A couple more potatoes wont harm this dish. If you dont like kale, replace it with raw spinach, chard, mustard greens, or collards.Easy Dutch Oven Beans and Sausage RecipeIngredients:1 tablespoon olive oil4 sausage links4 ribs of lacinato kale2 red potatoes1 clove garlic1 can cannellini beans (liquid included)1 cup chicken broth teaspoon salt (adjustable according to your chicken broth)1. In a large Dutch oven or heavy duty pot, sear the sausage links in the olive oil over medium heat. Rotate them once or twice while they cook.2. Meanwhile, prepare the other ingredients. Roughly chop the kale, cut the potatoes into half-inch cubes, peel and smash the garlic clove.3. Once the sausages have some color on two sides of each link, toss in all of the other ingredients. Give everything a poke to make sure it contacts the broth a bit. Cover it with a well-fitting lid and simmer over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes. Stir occasionally to scrape up the fond from the bottom of the pan.4. About five minutes before its finished, smash some of the beans with a wooden spoon to release some of the starches and thicken the sauce even more (if desired). Enjoy with a hunk of crusty bread.

Lock screens are a good way to protect your data, but thieves stealing your smartphone when it's unlocked (or after seeing your passcode), and then resetting everything in just a tap is still a real security risk. Apple deals with this vulnerability using its Stolen Device Protection feature, and now, in Android 15, Google has a similar feature called Identity Check.Identity Check ensures strangers out in public can't change your Android smartphone's account settings without first passing a secondary biometric authentication. First, you set up one or more trusted locations, like your home. Then, if someone outside of one of those locations has your phone and tries to access your passwords, change your PIN, or disable the Find My Device feature, they'll need to pass a biometric lock first.The feature is first rolling out on Pixel devices and any Samsung Galaxy device using One UI 7. But as is the case with most new Android features, it will slowly start to trickle out to other devices as well, as more manufactures update their own software. According to a Google blog, other manufactures will add support "later this year."Identity Check's protections are pretty robust, gating away settings like resetting your smartphone, changing the screen lock, creating a new fingerprint ID, disabling the Find My Device feature, adding a new Google account, accessing developer options, and accessing passwords and passkeys in the Password Manager.A major difference between Android's Identity Check and Apple's Stolen Device Protection is the time delay. Apple basically blocks you from changing any important setting while in an unknown location until you've waited for an hour first. Perhaps a tad too frustrating, but that hour can give someone enough time to remotely wipe your device. Android would perhaps do well to follow suit.For now, you'll have to enable Identity Check manually. Head over to Settings > Google account > All services > Theft Protection. Here, enable the Use Identity Check feature.Here, you can also click the Manage button to add trusted locations like your workspace or your home. Disabling the feature requires you to either authenticate using biometrics or by logging in to your Google account.Along with this update, Google is also rolling out its AI-powered Theft Detection Lock to all supported devices running Android 10 or higher (the feature was released last year for Pixel users). This feature detects when a smartphone is forcibly taken away from you, using data from the smartphones built-in sensors, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and more. You can enable it under Settings > Google account > All services > Theft protection > Theft Detection Lock.

In its year-and-a-half of existence, one of the things thats set Threads apart from Metas other apps is that the service has been entirely free of the advertising that fills up just about every corner of Facebook and Instagram. Thats now about to change. Meta is beginning its first small test of ads on Threads, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced, as the company looks to finally start making money off the service.The ads will appear as image posts in between content in users feeds and will show up only for a small percentage of people in the US and Japan. According to Mosseri, Meta plans to begin with a handful of brands in the two countries. We know there will be plenty of feedback about how we should approach ads, and we are making sure they feel like Threads posts youd find relevant and interesting, he wrote. Well closely monitoring this test before scaling it more broadly, with the goal of getting ads on Threads to a place where they are as interesting as organic content.It seems that Meta is using its existing advertising infrastructure to bring ads to the app. In a blog post, the company explains that brands can extend their existing Meta ad campaigns to Threadswithout the need for bespoke creative or additional resourcingby simply checking a box in Ads Manager. The company will also test its inventory filter on Threads, which allows advertisers to control the sensitivity level of the organic content their ads appear next to. That will likely be an important feature for marketers as Meta loosens its content moderation guidelines and once again allows more political content to appear in users recommendations.Though the initial test is small, using its existing ad tools would enable Meta to scale Threads ads to many more advertisers, and its 300 million users, very quickly in the future. Mark Zuckerberg has previously indicated that he preferred a slow approach to building Threads ad business. All these new products, we ship them, and then there's a multi-year time horizon between scaling them and then scaling them into not just consumer experiences but very large businesses, the CEO said last year.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-begins-a-small-test-of-ads-on-threads-174523673.html?src=rss

It's Friday, which means it's once again time for us to venture into the discount mines and dig out a few tech deals worth your attention. This week's roundup includes the lowest price in a year for Crucial's X9 Pro, which we consider the best portable SSD for those who want a travel-friendly way to back up their data. Apple's 11-inch iPad Air and Google's Pixel 8a phone are each $100 off, while the Meta Quest 3S and OLED TVs from LG and Sony are cheaper than usual too. We're also seeing a few price drops on video games and gaming accessories we recommend. Here are the best tech deals from this week that you can still buy today.The Meta Quest 3S.Devindra Hardawar for EngadgetCrucial X9 Pro (1TB) for $70 at Amazon ($31 off MSRP): The X9 Pro is our pick for the best portable SSD, as it combines steady performance for most needs with a rugged, super-compact design that's easy to take on the go. We saw this deal earlier this month, but it matches the largest discount for the 1TB model since late 2023. Also at B&H and Best Buy.Meta Quest 3S (256GB) + $15 Newegg gift card for $350 at Newegg ($65 off): The Quest 3S is the budget recommendation in our guide to the best VR headsets. While its older fresnel lenses aren't as crisp or clear as the pancake lenses in the superior Quest 3, they're good enough for most people just getting started with VR, and the headset as a whole is just as fast as the pricier model. More importantly, it supports all the same apps and games. The 256GB model has been $50 off at several retailers for a little over a week, but at Newegg you can now get a $15 gift card thrown in for no extra cost. Also at Amazon, Meta and others without the gift card. Meta says the price drop will end on February 8.The Google Pixel 8a.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetApple iPad Air (11-inch, M2) for $500 at Amazon ($99 off): We consider the latest iPad Air to be the best iPad for most people, as it's significantly cheaper than the iPad Pro but gets you a more futureproof chip, a better display, more RAM, twice as much storage and better accessory support than the standard 10th-gen iPad. We gave it a score of 91 in our review. This deal was available for much of the holiday season, and it's $30 above the tablet's all-time low, but it's still $50 off the slate's usual street price. Clip the on-page coupon to see the full discount at checkout.Google Pixel 8a (128GB) for $399 at Amazon ($100 off): Samsung's new Galaxy S25 devices may have taken the spotlight earlier this week, but we still consider Google's Pixel 8a to be the best Android phone for those on a tighter budget. It gets you most of the headline features from a flagship Pixel phone excellent cameras, a crisp 120Hz OLED display, clean software with updates through 2031, solid performance and battery life only it uses a slightly cheaper plastic frame with slower charging speeds. This $100 discount has been off and on for much of the past few months, but it still comes within $20 of the lowest price we've tracked for an unlocked 128GB model. Also at Best Buy and the Google Store. Google says this offer will end on January 25.The Astro A40 TR.Photo by Jeff Dunn / EngadgetAstro A40 TR gaming headset for $100 at Amazon ($30 off): The Astro A40 TR is the top wired choice in our guide to the best gaming headsets. Its open-back design helps it sound wider and more spacious than most options in this market, which makes it better for picking out enemies in online shooters or just feeling more immersed in a big action game. Being open-back means it leaks and lets in a good chunk of outside noise, so you shouldn't buy it if you often play in a noisy environment. The built-in mic isn't the best, either. Still, the enveloping sound makes it worthwhile. This deal is only $10 more than the all-time low we saw around Black Friday. Also at Logitech and Newegg.SanDisk Ultra (1TB) microSD card for $70 at Amazon ($15 off): The SanDisk Ultra is slower than the top recommendations in our microSD card buying guide, especially when it comes to write speeds, so you wouldn't want to stress it with large file transfers. If you can afford one of our main picks, get that instead. But if all you want is a big chunk of storage for as little cash as possible, it should be fine enough in a cheap tablet or gaming handheld. This ties the lowest price we've seen for the 1TB model. Also at SanDisk and B&H. At the former, you can grab two cards for $119 that discount will apply automatically in your cart.Red Dead Redemption 2.Rockstar GamesRed Dead Redemption 2 (PC) for $15 at Steam ($45 off): Its mission structure is dated, the movement is clunky and some of the writing can be, let's say, less than graceful. But Rockstar's Old West epic remains an achievement in maximalist world design: painstakingly detailed (literally), filled with stories and shot with unusually cinematic flair. You may not finish it until 2026, but if you've been waiting to take the plunge, this is a new low for the Steam copy and only $2 more than the lowest price we've seen overall. Other Rockstar games are also on sale.Halo: The Master Chief Collection (PC) for $10 at Steam ($30 off): We've seen this deal multiple times over the past year, but it ties the all-time low for Microsoft's Halo compilation, which gathers six of the iconic FPS series' essential games in one package. (Well, five essentials, plus Halo 4.) We include this one in our list of the best couch co-op games, but note that the PC version here only supports online co-op, not local play.Super Mario RPG for $30 at Target: Super NES classic Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars didn't necessarily need a remake, but this Switch version thankfully adheres the original's oddball spirit while sprucing up the visuals for true 3D. If you're in the market for a breezier, lower-stress RPG, it should fit the bill. This deal matches its all-time low.The ASUS ROG Ally.Photo by Sam Rutherford/EngadgetASUS ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) gaming handheld for $450 at Best Buy ($200 off): The original ROG Ally isn't as powerful or long-lasting as the newer ROG Ally X, and all Windows gaming handhelds are saddled with less optimized software than Valve's Steam Deck, which remains the top pick in our buying guide. However, when it's discounted to this extent, the older Ally is worth considering if you really want a handheld PC that can play games from any client, be it Steam, the Epic Games Store or the Xbox app. It's still a touch more powerful than the Deck, too, and its 120Hz VRR display does wonders to keep games looking smooth. And for as slipshod as Windows can be, ASUS has made its Armoury Crate app at least a little easier to navigate over time. Just don't expect more than a couple hours of battery life, and don't bother using the microSD slot. This deal ties the all-time low for the model with a Z1 Extreme chip.LG B4 OLED TV (48") for $600 at Best Buy ($200 off): This ties the lowest price we've seen for the 48-inch LG B4, which is the entry-level model in LG's 2024 OLED lineup. While it's not as bright or color-rich as some higher-end alternatives, it still offers the essential perks of any good OLED TV: superb contrast with deep black tones, clear motion, wide viewing angles and so on. It's also a nice value for gaming, as it has four HDMI 2.1 ports that support refresh rates up to 120Hz. It's just better off in a darker room, and this particular model is relatively small. If you want something a little bigger, the 55-inch model is also on sale for an all-time low of $798 at Amazon. That's roughly $250 off.Sony A95L OLED TV (65") for $2,498 at eBay via BuyDig ($500 off): The A95L is wildly expensive even with this discount, but many reviewers agree that it's the best TV on the market if money is no object. It uses a QD-OLED panel, which mixes the typical benefits of an OLED display with quantum dots to boost color performance. Compared to a lower-cost QD-OLED TV like the Samsung S90D, it should be more color-accurate out of the box and better at preserving details in shows that aren't presented in 4K. It also supports Dolby Vision HDR. The only serious drawback is that it's limited to two HDMI 2.1 ports, which may be annoying for those who own a soundbar and multiple game consoles. This discount from ties the lowest price to date for the 65-inch model; just use the code SAVEBIG20 at checkout. It comes from eBay via BuyDig, which Sony lists as an authorized seller.Follow @EngadgetDeals on Twitter and subscribe to the Engadget Deals newsletter for the latest tech deals and buying advice.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/deals/our-favorite-portable-ssd-falls-to-70-plus-the-rest-of-the-weeks-best-tech-deals-173250767.html?src=rss

Advice to counter state-backed threat actors turning on your business from within is also just generally sound recruiting advice.

QNAP says bugs were found in an open source element used by many similar products.