I had big plans to finish Metaphor: ReFantazio over the holiday break. A little unstructured time between Christmas and New Years? Perfect for pushing a long game over the finish line. Unless, of course, you make the rookie mistake of going on Steam and seeing some random game youve never heard of before with a cute name and positive reviews. Thats how you go from (maybe) finishing an 80+ hour RPG to getting sucked into Rocket Rats, the perfect snack-sized game to get you going in 2025.Created by solo dev Gagonfe, Rocket Rats is the kind of game where what you expect is what you get. Its a Vampire Survivors-like, or bullet heaven if you prefer, in which you play as a rat in space on a tiny moon besieged by cheese-themed enemies. Compared to Vampire Survivors, the playable space is small, confined to a small moon instead of a larger map. As such, each escalating wave becomes an exercise in confinement, a pure measurement of power creep against the cheesy stars, moons, and planets that float in from the outskirts with the intent of, I guess, killing you?Listen, Ill admit it doesnt make a tremendous amount of sense, but it really doesnt have to. Whats presented in Rocket Rats is a distilled, snack-sized version of what makes these kinds of games pleasurable: creating a build so powerful that you dont even need to move to win. Which is exactly what happened when I got a good lightning run going.Every run is composed of 30 waves of enemies, and between each wave youre awarded a choice of upgrades. Like other games in this ilk, your attacks auto-fire. Here, upgrades can add things like poison, lightning strikes, or homing arrows to complement your basic projectile attacks. You can also pick up upgrades for things like attack reload speed, total ammo, and movement speed. Every upgrade has its own succession of tiers, with every tier of lightning, for example, adding things like area of effect, the possibility to deal critical damage, and making it so that the auto-aim targets the closest enemies. A good lightning build might also spec into shot speed, as the lightning has a chance of striking every time you fire a standard shot. If youre a synergy sicko, youll be well-pleased.Buildcrafting discussion out of the way, if you go with a lightning build, what this basically boils down to is a shit ton of lightning bolts blanketing the screen by wave 20. My best run, which involved a synergy with another powerup that I wont spoil, pushed me through wave 65 in the endless mode that triggers after wave 30. It looked like this:In case you cant tell, that vaguely rat-looking part at the center of the white-hot center of the lightning storm is, in fact, my rocket rat. The joy I felt seeing my little guy engulfed by cheese-moons while an apocalyptic weather event occurred all around him was astronomical. And, because the game is so condensed, it only takes about eight or nine minutes to get to this level of mayhem. (Also, whether I was playing on Steam Deck or my PC, the way the frame rate started to churn into the single digits when I reached this stage was funny every single time.)These are all, of course, the base pleasures of this genre, which leads me to admit that Rocket Rats has a short tail in terms of how long you can expect to play the game. It took me about six hours to see almost everything the game has to offer, content-wise, and only about four to unlock every skill tree upgrade for the six playable rats. Theres some amount of depth here in dreaming up gonzo builds that play to each rats strengths, and there are some secret synergies between the various upgrade types, but beyond that, youll find yourself hitting a wall of engagement probably around the same time I did.But you know what? After a year as jam-packed as 2024 with gigantic releases, Rocket Rats was just the snack I didnt know I was looking for. Maybe it isnt a full-course meal, but still: You wont regret a single bite.

Star Trek: Section 31 might be the weirdest Star Trek movie ever made.The film, which arrives to Paramount Plus on Jan. 24, was originally pitched as a television series showcasing Star Trek: Discoverys Philippa Georgiou (Michelle Yeoh), former emperor of the (evil) Terran mirror universe, who became a space secret agent in the core Star Trek setting. But after the show was announced in 2019, production was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2023 writers and actors strikes, and even Yeohs own overdue meteoric rise and increasingly packed schedule after she earned the Best Actress Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All at Once.So the version of Section 31 hitting Paramount Plus is a movie, instead and its packed with a TV series worth of ideas. Some of them are chewy and fascinating in a classic Trek way, while others are wildly outside the franchises norm. And in both cases, its a pity, because all these ideas could have used more room or, perhaps, more space? to breathe.Star Trek: Discovery fans will remember Yeohs slippery Georgiou, the unrepentant conqueror-survivor of a much harsher universe, from the shows first three seasons. But even they might need help remembering where exactly in her timey-wimey story Section 31 fits: The movie takes place between seasons 1 and 2 of Discovery, which came out more than half a decade ago.Section 31 tells the story of how Georgiou came to work with the titular group, Starfleets own barely sanctioned, extra-black black ops division: A team from that division recruits the most dangerous woman in the galaxy to recover an even more dangerous device. Georgiou is joined by a whole cadre of weirdos who dont fit into Federation society in one way or another, but who work to safeguard its existence in secrecy, and with fewer regulations than most Starfleet officers.That hook feels like something out of Guardians of the Galaxy or The Suicide Squad, which is to say, its a very different setup than the plot of pretty much any Star Trek movie or show to date. Director Olatunde Osunsanmi and screenwriter Craig Sweeney try to make Section 31 different on purpose, and whether that works for a given Trek fan may depend on how well theyre able to take it as it is, not as what they expect from Trek.For example, theyll need to accept that Section 31 is making no excuses and providing no explanations for the fan-controversial basic concept of Section 31. The movie is just here so Trek characters can have a rollicking adventure while defending the galaxy. Section 31 provides these characters with that assignment, but Section 31 (the movie) offers little insight about its organization or hierarchy.In pursuit of this sense of further frontiers, Sweeney who produced and wrote for Elementary and penned the Star Trek: Discovery episode Context is for Kings populates the movie with a mix of Star Trek ideas old and new. The Deltan species (longtime Trek fans may remember the bald Deltan lady in the rather excoriated Star Trek: The Motion Picture) returns in the form of agent Melle (Humberly Gonzlez), while the teams Starfleet minder is none other than a younger version of Rachel Garrett (played by Kacey Rohl), first female captain of the USS Enterprise, who appeared in one 1990 episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.On the other hand, theres Alok (Omari Hardwick), whose secret backstory is directly linked to an unjust systemic prejudice in the heart of Federation law, a rare black note in Treks utopia that recently formed the backbone of one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. And theres Sven Ruygrok as Fuzz, a strangely emotive Vulcan whos hiding a twist so wild, it feels like its from an entirely different genre of science fiction. In both cases, Section 31 only has time to glance off these characters secrets before the movie comes to a close.Aloks secret origin as a man who fights illicitly to protect a society he can never be accepted into is a story Id have loved to have seen explored in a full season. Fuzz, though Well, OK. Frankly, I think Fuzz is a bridge too far for Star Trek. But if he was on a series, Id at least stick around to see whether the writers could convince me otherwise. More time means more space to integrate him more naturally into Trek canon or to place more weight on Sweeney making such a strange narrative addition. At the very least, a series would give fans time for the shock to wear off.By trying to make Star Trek: Section 31 everything regular Star Trek isnt, Osunsanmi and Sweeney fulfill the shows promise to boldly go where no one has gone before. But its one-and-done story concludes without the plot itself ending up anywhere particularly unexpected. This is certainly due in part to how it sits in the middle of its leads story Georgiou has to be around to meet back up with Star Trek: Discoverys main crew in its second season and in part how the activity of Section 31 agents must remain secret to the wider galaxy. But the creators focus their ending on a pack of misfits coming together as a team, in an emotional payoff thats undercut by the incompleteness of their personal arcs.Its the weirdest Star Trek movie in tone, character lineup, and setting, and it doesnt exactly work as a standalone Star Trek story. But in part, thats due to how finite it is, and how limited it feels. As far as we know for the moment, theres no Section 31 sequel movie or series spin-off coming. But I would watch one just to see where the hell it could go from here.

At the intersection of three Park Avenue apartments, a story of architectural metamorphosis unfolds. Here, BUILTIN the Manhattan-based practice led by Gary Eisner and Terence Kinee faced a challenge that epitomizes the complexities of contemporary urban living how to weave separate spaces into a cohesive whole while honoring the needs of a multi-generational family. A Coordonne floral wallpaper envelops the foyer and central hallway, serving not merely as decoration but as a unifying element that transforms what could have been a utilitarian passage into an immersive experience.In the living area, the studios sophisticated material selection comes into focus. A generously proportioned sectional in light brown, wrapped in Pierre Frey fabric, anchors the space with warmth. Against this traditional foundation, reflective vintage coffee tables and sculptural side pieces introduce contemporary sensibilities, creating a dialogue that subtly references the 1960s, which is a meaningful nod to the owners youth.Throughout the space, furnishings from RH, Dmitriy & Co, and Sebastian Herkner were carefully curated to create environments that feel both considered and lived-in. By seamlessly integrating three distinct units into five bathrooms, three bedrooms, and a private den, BUILTIN created a home that responds to the evolving nature of urban family life.The most revealing aspect of the 2,600-square-foot transformation appears in the primary bedroom, where the studio confronted the inherent challenges of combining pre-war apartments, one of which including irregular sight lines. Rather than concealing these architectural quirks, BUILTIN embraced them through strategic color-blocking, transforming potential awkwardness into intentional design moments.For more on BUILTIN, visit builtinstudio.com.Photography by David Mitchell.

When it looked like 2025 was going to kick off with a total shutdown of TikTok in the U.S., many of us turned to Instagram, YouTube, and even streaming to find the cleaning inspiration normally associated with "CleanTok." TikTok, however, is back and may never disappear at all, which means we are (for now) free to return to the app for all our scrubbing, dusting, decluttering, and organizing needs. Whether you're a longtime user of the video-sharing platform or want to get in on the action now that you've been given a second chance to explore TikTok, here are some of the best CleanTok accounts to follow. @organizingspacesbykim, 178.2k followersIf you need organizing inspo, @organizingspacesbykim is one of the best options for you on TikTok (you can also find Kim and her very-organized home on Instagram, where she has an even bigger community of followers). What I love about this account is that it's run by a mother of two who is very communicative with followers and posts a lot of pure inspo in the form of before-and-afters that can motivate you to make similar changes in your home. Her cabinet organizing is especially top-tier. @cleanthatup, 1.8 million followersIf you're into watching someone de-grime truly dirty stuff, Brandon Pleshek, a third-generation janitor with nearly 2 million followers, is for you. On TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram, he shares simple hacks that make the job of cleaning just a little easier and demonstrates how to bust through the dirtiest situationsand he does it all with a positive outlook and encouraging demeanor. @nowitsclean, 1.7 million followersI like @nowitsclean because the creator, Lori, isn't boxed into her own niche. Yes, she shares cleaning tips (often inspired by direct questions from followers who have specific needs to address), but she also films beauty and lifestyle content, so you get a nice variety in your feed. She recommends products that she swears by, so you can duplicate her results, and brings a sunny disposition to tidying up that is really appreciated. @cleanmyspace, 22.3k followersThe creator of @cleanmyspace, Melissa Maker, is far from new to this: She's been a YouTube guru for a while, amassing over 2 million followers for her cleaning content on that platform. Over on TikTok, she shares quick, effective cleaning tips and inspiring organizational before-and-afters. She is funny and irreverent at times, not taking herself too seriously while also sharing straightforward advice on what products and techniques really work. @buildandcreatehome, 2.1 million followersThe clips on @buildandcreatehome are really well-produced and almost cinematic, which elevates them and makes them pretty inspiringbut they're also full of useful information, which is where this account really shines. A lot of the videos are about home reno or woodworking with some cleaning and organizing mixed in, so if you're someone with a lot of major home projects, this is where you'll find motivation. @sparklingwithdemi, 700k followersFor pure, straight cleaning content, @sparklingwithdemi is unbeatable. The clips are direct and issue-focused, demonstrating how to clean ovens, cupboards, carpets full of pet hair, and more. You get product recs and simple examples of precisely what to do with them, no matter which specific issue you're facing in your own home, all from the perspective of a pro who cleans other people's homes for a living. @cleanwithnessa, 3.8 million followersYou don't get to nearly 4 million followers without posting great content, so @cleanwithnessa is trustworthy from the jump. There are two main kinds of videos on this account: deep cleans and organizing inspo. I love the organizing ones because it's great to see how someone else puts together, say, a cabinet full of snacks and figure out how I can replicate that organization in my own cabinet. @keep_it_organised, 1.5 million followersIf it's not obvious by now, I love organizing accounts. Seeing which products and approaches someone else uses to manage all their stuff is pretty illuminating and inspiring, which is especially true when watching @keep_it_organised do it. In clip after clip, this account shows you how to organize efficiently and easily, turning small spaces into perfectly curated organizational oases. @morethancleaning, 953.6k followersIleana, the creator behind @morethancleaning, has been steadily gaining followers for yearsshe posts about her experiences as a pro cleaner and what she recommends for various messes, and she does it all in a relatable, approachable way. You feel like you know her after watching just a few clips, so it's like cleaning with a friend. She usually reposts her cleaning tips in Spanish, too, thus appealing to a wider audience. @pairswellwithwhine, 785.6k followersOn @pairswellwithwhine, you'll watch Cary, a funny, engaging creator who shares walkthroughs of how she cleans basically everything in her home, plus adds commentary and even does giveaways. Cary's relatableshe doesn't put a veneer of perfection over everything to make you feel like your life doesn't compare to hers. Rather, she wants everyone to succeed and shows you how it can be done. @cleaningwithgabie, 2 million followersWatching Gabie Vigneault on @cleaningwithgabie is soothing, since she does thorough refreshes that take you through all the stages of cleaning a particular thing, whether it's a bed or a big load of laundry. She offers tips, product recommendations, and the satisfaction of seeing a project all the way through. @vanesamaro, 5.7 million followersVanesa Amaro is a heavy hitter on CleanTok, where she has almost 6 million followers who tune in to the @vanesamaro91 account to learn all about cleaning every inch of their homes. From fridge vents to interior doors, she dives into the nitty gritty, hyper-focusing on overlooked spaces that can get way too dirty and offering simple tips for sprucing them up. @cleanwithrab, 559k followersOn @cleanwithrab, you'll watch the self-proclaimed "Cleaning Dad" tackle the kinds of messes that go with being a parent, plus a ton of other universal issues. Stains on your carpet? Scuffs on your sink? Dirty blinds? He covers it all and offers cheap product recommendations that are accessible to cleaners on any budget. @livecomposed, 733.1k followersAzure MacCannell, who runs @livecomposed, uses TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube to try out viral cleaning hacks, demonstrate products, and share tips for saving money while maintaining a clean home. Interspersed among the straightforward cleaning tips are cooking and organizing ideas, too, for a well-rounded look at all the ways you can upgrade your home life.

It has been pouring for weeks in the Northwest, with little to do but hide inside. But suddenly last week, the clouds dissipated and weve had a solid week of chilly but sunny days. When we get these breaks, I drop everything to be outside in the garden. Heres everything you should do on sunny winter days.Clean up driveways and sidewalksRain, snow, and wind can ruin all the nice lines of your yard. The mulch and dirt you swept into beds a few months ago now might be all over the place, so the first thing I do is start tidying up. Sweep the sidewalks now that theyre drythis will reduce your chance of slipping on wet leaves. You might also throw down some loose sand to help with traction, once youre done sweeping.Rake leaves back into the beds; all leaves need is a day or two of sun to dry out entirely. This will make raking (or blowing) your leaves easy work. In the same vein, ensure the mulch is pulled away from the base of your trees and shrubs. While mulch is fantastic for your beds, when its wet, it is also an easy way to spread viruses and fungus to your plants, so simply pull it away from the trunks.Work the soilNow is a great time to put plants into the ground, if the ground is workable. So long as it isnt frozen, youll find the ground is pliable and easy to dig into. Thinking about fruit trees? Roses? Your nursery will be happy to indulge you. Remember you want a hole three times the depth and width of the plastic pot the plant comes in, so get digging.If youre not feeling as ambitious, this is the best time of year, believe it or not, to weed. The weeds are at a minimum right now, but what you see above ground will yield to tons more weed progeny come spring. Nipping the weeds you see now in the bud will mean a lot less work come spring. Also, youll find it easy to get the weeds out, given the softness of the ground from rain and snow. While it sounds miserable, sitting on the ground working your way around the beds weeding is a meditational afternoon that keeps you outside.Turn your compostI have a terrible habit of ignoring my compost piles in winter, but it's important you turn the compost over so the pile has fully baked by spring. Get your spade or hayfork in there and stir it up, paying attention to what you see and smell. If the pile is well-balanced with carbon and nitrogen (some people call this brown and green), the pile wont smell and should be breaking down. Its quite rare people dont have enough nitrogenthe problem is usually not enough carbon. So if your compost isnt, well, composting, add in dry leaves, cardboard, newspaper, or something else that qualifies as brown.Plant carrotsThose bright orange veggies are a pain to germinatethey require darkness and constant moisture. That's why winter is a fantastic time to get them in the ground. Let Mother Nature do the work for you, with the rain and snow that's sure to come back at any moment. Another benefit: Carrot seeds that have overwintered tend to yield sweeter carrots. You wont see these guys until spring, but it will be a sweet surprise come April. Spread the seeds out on the top of soil that tends towards sandy rather than clay, and then ever-so-lightly cover them with soil. Some people cover the seeds with burlap or cardboard to preserve moisture, but this time of year, I find its unnecessary. Once it starts precipitating again, its unlikely to stop while the seeds are germinating.Clean your bird stationsFew things delight me as much as watching the Anna's hummingbirds in my yard fight for supremacy over my feeders, particularly as the temperatures drop. But Im not as good about cleaning my feeders in winter as I am in summer. With the sun out, its time to take the feeders down and give them an actual scrub with bleach. With bird flu in all 50 states, its more important than ever to protect our birds as well as our pets. If youre not sure if you can keep up the cleaning regimen needed, you might decide to take your feeders down altogether.Visit your garden centerIn spring, you'll have to wait in line to ask questions about your garden or specific plants, and will likely be asking seasonal help. In winter, only the year-round staff is present, and they are treasure troves of information. They're also probably a little bored, and the center probably has some hot sales. Take an hour or two and wander the center, ask questions about that garden project you've been putting off, and get great deals on plants.

A $2,000 video card for consumers shouldn't exist. The GeForce RTX 5090, like the $1,599 RTX 4090 before it, is more a flex by NVIDIA than anything truly meaningful for most gamers. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang said as much when he revealed the GPU at CES 2025, assuming that it'll be for hardcore players who have $10,000 rigs. Personally, I don't know anyone who actually fits that bill, not unless you count parasocial relationships with streamers. (My own setup doesn't even cross $5,000.) But we all know why NVIDIA is hyping up the unattainable RTX 5090: It lets the company show off benchmarks that AMD can't touch, once again cementing itself as the supreme leader of the high-end video card market. It's not just about gaming, either. The RTX 5090 is also being positioned as an AI workhorse since it's powered by NVIDIA's new Blackwell architecture, which leans on the company's Tensor Cores for artificial intelligence work more than ever. Realistically, though, the $549 RTX 5070 is the GPU more gamers will actually be able to buy. I'll admit, I went into this review with a mixture of excitement and disgust. It's astonishing that NVIDIA was able to stuff 91 billion transistors and 21,760 CUDA cores in the RTX 5090, and I couldn't wait to see how it performed. Still, I find it genuinely sad that NVIDIA keeps pushing the bar higher for GPU prices, in the process making the gaming world even more unequal. A $2,000 graphics card, in this economy?! But after hours of benchmarking and playtime, I realized the RTX 5090 wasn't much of a threat to gaming accessibility. Wealthy PC gamers have always overspent for graphics performance I've seen people (unwisely) pay thousands more than consumer GPUs just to get extra VRAM from NVIDIA's Quadro cards. But the rise of PC handhelds like the Steam Deck, which are a direct offshoot of the Nintendo Switch's success, is a clear sign that convenience matters more than raw power to mainstream players today. I don't think many Switch 2 buyers are saving up for an RTX 5090. For the few who can afford it, though, NVIDIA's new flagship sure is a treat. Hardware: Leaning more on AI In many ways, the RTX 5000 GPU family is the convergence of NVIDIA's decades-long GPU expertise and its newfound role powering the AI hype train. Sure, they'll run games faster than before, but what makes them unique is their ability to tap into "neural rendering" AI for even better performance. It's at the heart of DLSS 4, the company's latest AI upscaling technology, which can now generate up to three frames for every one that's actually rendered by the RTX 5090. That's how NVIDIA can claim this GPU is twice as fast as the RTX 4090, or that the RTX 5070 matches the speed of the 4090. Does it really matter if these frames are "fake" if you can't tell, and they lead to smoother gameplay? Before I dive further into the AI side of things, though, let's take a closer look at the RTX 5090. Once again, it features 21,760 CUDA cores, up from 16,384 cores on the 4090, as well as 32GB of GDDR7 VRAM instead of the 4090's 24GB of GDDR6X. (I thought I was future-proofing my desktop when I equipped it with 32GB of RAM years ago, but now that video cards have caught up I'm almost convinced to go up to 64GB.) The 5090 also sports 5th-gen Tensor cores with 3,352 of AI TOPs performance, while the 4090 had 1,321 AI TOPS with last-gen Tensor hardware. RTX 5090 RTX 5080 RTX 5070 Ti RTX 5070 RTX 4090 Architecture Blackwell Blackwell Blackwell Blackwell Lovelace CUDA cores 21,760 10,752 8,960 6,144 16,384 AI TOPS 3,352 1,801 1,406 988 1,321 Tensor cores 5th Gen 5th Gen 5th Gen 5th Gen 4th Gen RT cores 4th Gen 4th Gen 4th Gen 4th Gen 3rd Gen VRAM 32 GB GDDR7 16 GB GDDR7 16 GB GDDR7 12 GB GDDR7 24 GB GDDR6X Memory bandwidth 1,792 GB/sec 960 GB/sec 896 GB/sec 672 GB/sec 1,008 GB/sec TGP 575W 360W 300W 250W 450W I tested the RTX 5090 Founders Edition GPU (provided by NVIDIA), which is dramatically slimmer than its 4090 counterpart. The 5090 has a sleek two-slot case that can actually fit in small form factor systems. The three-slot 4090, meanwhile, was so massive it felt like it was going to tear my PCIe slot out of my motherboard. NVIDIA also added another cooling fan this time around, instead of just relying on a vapor chamber and a single fan. The 5090's main PCB sits in the center of the card, and it's connected to other PCB modules at the PCIe slot and rear ports (three DisplayPort 2.1b and an HDMI 2.1b connection). Devindra Hardawar for Engadget DLSS 4: The real star of the show While multi-frame generation is the defining feature for the RTX 50 cards, there are several other DLSS 4 features that should help games look dramatically better. Best of all, those capabilities are also trickling down to earlier RTX GPUs. RTX 40 cards will be more efficient with their single-frame generation, while RTX 30 and 20 cards will also see an upgrade from AI transformer models used for ray reconstruction (leading to more stable ray tracing), Super Resolution (higher quality textures) and Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA). These transformer models should also fix some rendering artifacts present in earlier versions of DLSS. At NVIDIAs Editors Day earlier this month, the company showed off how the updated version of Ray Reconstruction made a chainlink fence in Alan Wake 2 appear completely sharp and clear. An earlier version of the feature made the same fence look muddy, almost as if it was out of focus. In Horizon Forbidden West, the new version of Super Resolution revealed more detail from the texture of Aloys bag. DLSS 4 will be supported in 75 games and apps at launch, including Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and Cyberpunk 2077, according to NVIDIA. For titles that havent yet been updated with new DLSS menu options, youll also be able to force support for the latest features in the NVIDIA app. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget In use: An absolute powerhouse, with fake frames and without I could almost hear my motherboard breathe a sigh of relief when I unplugged the RTX 4090 and swapped in the slimmer 5090. Installation was a cinch, though I still needed to plug in four PSU connectors to satisfy its demand for 575 watts of power and a 1,000W PSU. If youre lucky enough to have a new PSU with a 600W PCIe Gen 5 cable, that will also work (and also avoid tons of cable clutter). I tested the RTX 5090 on my home rig powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7900X and 32GB of RAM, alongside a 1,000W Corsair PSU. I also used Alienwares 32-inch 4K QD-OLED 4K 240Hz monitor to get the most out of the 5090, and honestly, you wouldnt want to run this GPU on anything less. Once I started benchmarking, it didnt take long for the RTX 5090 to impress me. In the 3DMark Steel Nomad test, which is a demanding DX12 demo, it scored 14,239 points, well above the 9,250 points I saw on the RTX 4090. Similarly, the 5090 hit 15,416 points in the 3DMark Speedway benchmark, compared to the 4090s 10,600 points. These are notable generation-over-generation gains without the use of frame generation or any DLSS sorcery its just the raw power you see with more CUDA and RT cores. None 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme Port Royal (Ray Tracing) Cyberpunk (4K RT Overdrive DLSS) Blender NVIDIA RTX 5090 19,525 36,003/166fos 246fps (4X frame gen) 14,903 NVIDIA RTX 4090 16,464 25,405/117fps 135fps 12,335 NVIDIA RTX 4080 Super 13,168 18,435/85fps 80fps 8,867 NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti Super 11,366 15,586/72fps 75fps 7,342 Once I started gaming and let DLSS 4 do its magic, my jaw just about hit the floor. But I suppose thats just a natural response to seeing a PC hit 250fps on average in Cyberpunk 2077 while playing in 4K with maxed-out ray tracing overdrive settings and 4x frame generation. In comparison, the 4090 hit 135fps with the same settings and single frame generation. Now I know most of those frames arent technically real, but its also the first time Ive seen any game fill out the Alienware monitors 4K 240hz refresh rate. And most importantly, Cyberpunk simply looked amazing as I rode my motorcycle down rain-slicked city streets and soaked in the reflections and realistic lighting from robust ray tracing. Like Cypher in The Matrix (far from the best role model, I know), after suffering through years of low 4K framerates, I couldnt help but feel like ignorance is bliss when it comes to frame generation. I didnt see any artifacts or stuttering. There wasnt anything that took away from my experience of playing Cyberpunk. And the game genuinely looked better than Id ever seen it before. And if youre the sort of person who could never live with fake frames, the RTX 5090 is also the only card Ive seen that can get close to 60fps in Cyberpunk natively in 4K with maxed out graphics and no DLSS. I hit 54fps on average in my testing, whereas the 4090 chugged along at 42fps in native 4K. You could also compromise a bit and turn on 2x or 3x frame generation to get a solid fps boost, if the idea of 4x frame generation just makes you feel dirty. And if you cant tell, I quickly got over any fake frame trepidation. When I used the NVIDIA app to turn on 4x frame generation in Dragon Quest: The Veilguard, I once again saw an average framerate of around 240fps in 4K with maxed out graphics. Ive already spent over 25 hours in the game, but running through a few missions at that framerate still felt revelatory. Combat sequences were clearer and easier to follow, possibly thanks to better Ray Reconstruction and Super Resolution, and I could also make out even more detail in my characters ornate costumes. On the 4090, I typically saw around 120fps with standard frame generation. The 5090s DLSS 4 performance makes me eager to see how the cheaper RTX 5070 and 5070 Ti cards perform. If a $550 card can actually get close to what I saw on the $1,599 4090, even if its relying on massive amounts of frame generation, thats still a major accomplishment. It would also be great news for anyone who invested in a 4K 120Hz screen, which is tough to fill with other mid-range GPUs. Outside of gaming, the RTX 5090 also managed to convert a minute-long 4K clip into 1080p using the NVENC H.264 encoder in just 23 seconds. Thats the fastest conversion Ive seen yet. In comparison, the RTX 4090 took 28 seconds. Add up those seconds on a much larger project, and the 5090 could potentially save you hours of repeated rendering time. Naturally, it also saw the fastest Blender benchmark score weve ever seen, reaching 14,903 points. The RTX 4090, the previous leader in our benchmarks, hit 12,335 points. 3Dmark Throughout benchmarks and lengthy gaming sessions, the RTX 5090 typically reached around 70 degrees Celsius with audible, but not annoying, fan noise. The card also quickly cooled down to idle temperatures between 34C and 39C when it wasnt under load. Aiming to push the limits of NVIDIAs cooling setup, I also ran several stress test sessions in 3DMark, which involves looping a benchmark 20 times. It never crashed, and achieved over 97 percent accuracy in most of the tests. There was just one Steel Nomad session where it scored 95.9 percent and failed 3DMarks 97 percent threshold. That could easily be due to early driver issues, but its still worth noting. The only time I really got the RTX 5090 cooking was during an exploration of the Speedway benchmark, where I could move the camera around the ray traced scene and look at different objects and characters. The card hit 79C almost immediately and stayed there until I quit the demo. During that session, as well as typical gaming, the 5090 drew between 500W and 550W of power. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Looking ahead: AI NPCs and neural shaders On top of DLSS, NVIDIA is also planning to tap into its RTX cards to power AI NPCs in games like PUBG and ZooPunk. Based on what I saw at NVIDIAs Editors Day, though, Im more worried than excited. The companys Ace technology can let NPCs generate text, voices and even have conversational voice chats, but every example I saw was robotic and disturbing. The AI Ally in PUBG makes a lot of sense on paper who wouldnt want a computer companion that could help you fight and find ammo? But in the demo I saw, it wasnt much of a conversationalist, it couldnt find weapons when asked and it also took way too long to hop into a vehicle during a dangerous firefight. As I wrote last week, I'm personally tired of being sold on AI fantasies, when we know the key to great writing and performances is to give human talent the time and resources to refine their craft. And on a certain level, I think I'll always feel like the director Hayao Miyazaki, who described an early example of an AI CG creature as, "an affront to life itself." NVIDIAs Neural Shaders are an attempt to bring AI right into texture shaders, something the company says wasnt possible on previous GPUs. These can be implemented in a variety of ways: RTX Neural Materials, for example, can use AI to render complex materials like silk and porcelain, which often have nuanced and reflective textures. RTX Neural Texture Compression, on the other hand, can store complex textures while saving up to 7 times the VRAM used from typical block compression. For ray tracing, theres RTX Neural Radiance Cache, which is trained on live gameplay to help simulate path-traced indirect lighting. Much like NVIDIAs early ray tracing demos, its unclear how long itll take for us to see these features in actual games. But from the glimpses so far, NVIDIA is clearly thinking of new ways to deploy its AI Tensor Cores. RTX Neural Faces, for example, uses a variety of methods to make faces seem more realistic, and less like plastic 3D models. Theres also RTX Mega Geometry, which can help developers make up to 100x more ray traced triangles, according to NVIDIA. Demos show it being used to construct a large building as well as an enormous dragon. Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Wrap-up: The new unattainable GPU king The $2,000 GeForce RTX 5090 is not meant for mere mortals, that much is clear. But it points to an interesting new direction for NVIDIA, one where AI features can seemingly lead to exponential performance gains. While I hate that its pushing GPU prices to new heights, theres no denying that NVIDIA has crafted an absolute beast. But, like most people, Im more excited to see how the $549 RTX 5070 fares. Sure, its also going to lean into frame generation, but at least you wont have to spend $2,000 to make the most of your 4K monitor.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidia-geforce-rtx-5090-review-pure-ai-excess-for-2000-140053371.html?src=rss

Google and Apple are having a bad day. The tech giants are facing a new investigation into their mobile ecosystems from the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) and growing pressure to adopt a new app store initiative in India.Let's start with the probe, which comes one day after the CMA named a former Amazon executive as its interim chair. The CMA is investigating whether Apple and Google's mobile ecosystems should have Strategic Market Status (SMS) and thus can be subjected to greater regulation and pro-competition directives. However, they're not fully clear what aspects exactly are being investigated. This new designation stems from the UK's Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers (DMCC) Act, which went into effect on January 1. Google is also the subject of the first SMS investigation, launched earlier this month and focusing on possible antitrust practices around the company's search services.The CMA's SMS investigations can last up to nine months, with both cases currently accepting comments on the investigation and possible interventions. The regulator is accepting submissions around the joint Google and Apple probe through February 12.Now to Apple and Google's other headache. In India, the technology ministry is pushing Apple and Google to offer the state-backed GOV.in app store in their marketplaces, Bloomberg reports. The Indian government also wants the suite of apps to be pre-installed on all mobile devices, available for third-party downloads and not labelled with warnings such as "untrusted source." It is billing the push as a means for further distributing public-welfare services. These apps are currently available on Apple and Google's app stores, but as separate entities.The initial request reportedly came in a meeting last month but, as it stands, Google and Apple are unlikely to say yes. The Indian government is reportedly discussing using mandates or taking legal steps to force compliance. In 2021, Apple began offering a similar option for Russian users due to regulations.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/uk-investigating-google-and-apples-mobile-ecosystems-135204025.html?src=rss

New PowerSchool data allegedly came directly from the attacker.

15-20 words explaining the main thrust of the story.