With inflation kicking things up in a big way in 2024 and pushing into 2025, gaming has become an increasingly expensive hobby, especially for budget-conscious gamers and enthusiasts who often look to do more with less in terms of hardware. This means that one segment that overwhelmingly suffers is that of value-centric gaming PC builders that deal with limited budgets but ever-increasing prices when it comes to components needed for their builds.

Hey everyone, were just one day away from bringing the latest epic chapter in the Marvels Spider-Man franchise to PC, where youll battle as Spider-Men, Peter Parker and Miles Morales, against a rogues gallery of iconic Marvel Super Villains, including the monstrous Venom and the ruthless Kraven the Hunter.With the game launching soon, Im excited to share more about the awesome new PC-enhanced features the team at Nixxes has been working on.Play VideoMarvels Spider-Man 2, created by Insomniac in collaboration with Marvel, is a technological and graphical showcase utilizing tools like ray-tracing to bring the city of Marvels New York to life. On PC, youll encounter a variety of new ray-tracing options with individual quality settings to finetune performance and fidelity across a broad range of hardware configurations.Ray-traced reflections quickly catch your eye in the skyscraper-filled city of Marvels New York as you swing along its many glass surfaces. Meanwhile, were offering ray-traced interiors, shadows, and ambient occlusion options that add an additional layer of believability with realistic shadows and increased depth to the game.If you have a high-performance PC with Super Hero-tier hardware, you can take advantage of our increased raytracing geometry detail setting. This enables the use of higher quality meshes for raytracing, resulting in more detailed and realistic reflections. You can also use the raytracing object range slider to increase the range at which objects are considered for raytracing. Furthermore, Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC includes NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction1, which improves raytracing quality on supported hardware. Let me introduce you to Menno Bil, Graphics Programmer at Nixxes, to tell you more about this feature:NVIDIA DLSS Ray Reconstruction aims to achieve more detailed raytracing features by combining two separate temporal processes in a frame: denoising of the raytracing features and upscaling of the entire frame. By combining these steps, ray reconstruction keeps more useful information over multiple frames to add small details in raytracing effects that can otherwise be lost.In Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC with ray reconstruction enabled, we see more detailed ray-traced reflections and better-defined ray-traced shadows, especially when viewing raytracing effects at steep angles. We also seeimprovements in the ray-traced interiors and less ghosting and noise in the ray-traced ambient occlusion.Weve included two models of NVIDIAs Ray Reconstruction,the original model introduced in DLSS 3.5, and a newly improved model designed for RTX 40 series GPUs and newer. This new model results in an overall more temporally stable image, further improving the visual quality of raytracing. Menno Bil, Graphics Programmer, NixxesPlayers with ultra-wide monitors can enjoy full support for ultra-wide aspect ratios such as 21:9, 32:9 and even 48:9 when using triple monitor setups. Our team of engineers and artists worked hard on ensuring all cinematics in Marvels Spider-Man 2 are adapted to be fully viewable in aspect ratios up to 32:9.Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC also supports various performance-enhancing technologies, including NVIDIA DLSS 3 and AMD FSR 3.1 upscaling and frame generation.* Intel XeSS upscaling is also supported.1With options like raytracing and ultra-wide support, we want to give players the chance to make full use of their high-end PC gaming rigs. However, at Nixxes we also take pride in making PC games scale down to prior generation hardware. To cater to this, Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC offers a wide range of graphics settings and presets, including options without ray-tracing, like dynamic resolution scaling. Check out an overview of the recommended specifications for a variety of graphics presets below.MinimumRecommendedHighHigh Ray TracingVery High Ray TracingUltimate Ray TracingAvg. Performance720P @ 30 FPS1080P @ 60 FPS1440P @ 60 FPS1440p @ 60 FPS1440p @ 60 FPS4K @ 60 FPSGraphics PresetsVery LowMediumHighHighRay Tracing HighHighRay Tracing Very HighVery HighRay Tracing UltimateGPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650AMD Radeon RX 5500 XTNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060AMD Radeon RX 5700NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070AMD Radeon RX 6800NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTXNVIDIAGeForce RTX4090CPUIntel Core i3-8100AMD Ryzen 3 3100Intel Core i5-8400AMD Ryzen 5 3600Intel Core i5-11400AMD Ryzen 5 5600Intel Core i5-11600KAMD Ryzen 5 5600XIntel Core i7-12700KAMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-12900KAMD Ryzen 7 7800X3DRAM16 GB16 GB16 GB16 GB16 GB32 GBOSWindows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)SSD Storage140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GBTwo editions of Marvels Spider-Man 2 will be available when it launches on PC on January 30, including the Standard Edition and Digital Deluxe Edition (DDE). Players will also have the option to upgrade to the DDE content if they already own the Standard Edition.View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageUpon purchase, the previously announced Pre-Purchase offer will be made available to all players as PC Purchase Perks. This includes:Arachknight Suit early unlock for Peter with three color variantsShadow-Spider Suit early unlock for Miles with three color variantsWeb Grabber gadget early unlock+3 Skill PointsView and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imagePlayers will receive two early unlock suits: the Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit and the Miles Morales 2099 Suit, plus additional benefits like trophies and friend management if they opt to connect to a PlayStation Network account. A PlayStation Network account is optional to play Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC. View and download imageDownload the imagecloseCloseDownload this imageOur friends at Insomniac are also excited to collaborate with NetEase Games and Marvel Games to bring Peter Parkers Advanced Suit 2.0 from Marvels Spider-Man 2 to Marvel Rivals. To celebrate Marvels Spider-Man 2s upcoming PC release, Marvel Rivals players can purchase this suit in-game starting 6PM PST on January 29. Check out the Advanced Suit 2.0 in action.Play VideoNixxes and Insomniac, along with our partners at PlayStation and collaborators at Marvel Games, are excited for everyone to experience Marvels Spider-Man 2 on PC!*Compatible PC and graphics card required.

Starting with tomorrows release of Marvels Spider-Man 2 for PC, were working to add more benefits to playing with an account for PlayStation Network. The Last of Us Part II Remastered (coming April 3, 2025), in addition to God of War Ragnark and Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered, will all soon be adding in-game content unlocks for PlayStation Network account users.An account for PlayStation Network will become optional for these titles on PC. Players who still opt to sign into a PlayStation Network account will also enjoy added benefits like trophies and friend management.Details on new benefits for players who opt to sign in with an account for PlayStation Network:Marvels Spider-Man 2Early unlock suits: the Spider-Man 2099 Black Suit and the Miles Morales 2099 SuitGod of War RagnarokGain access to the Armor of the Black Bear set for Kratos at the first Lost Items chest in the Realm Between Realms (previously only accessible in a New Game+ run) and a resource bundle (500 Hacksilverand 250 XP)The Last of Us Part II Remastered+50 points to activate bonus features and unlock extrasJordans Jacket from Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet as a skin for EllieHorizon Zero Dawn RemasteredGain access to Nora Valiant outfitGame creators at PlayStation Studios will continue to work on bringing more benefits to players who sign up for a PlayStation Network account, so be sure to follow studio channels for more information. You can find more details on account sign-in at our website.Thank you to our PlayStation PC fans around the world for your support.

Elliot Page at The Umbrella Academy fourth and final season premiere held at The Egyptian Theatre on August 5, 2024 in Hollywood, California. | Photo: Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty ImagesElliot Pages PageBoy Productions has acquired the rights to adapt 2013 adventure game Beyond: Two Souls into a television series, Deadline reports.Beyond: Two Souls featured Page in the role of protagonist Jodie Holmes as Holmes learned to harness mysterious, supernatural powers. Willem Dafoe also starred as researcher Nathan Dawkins. The game, developed by French studio Quantic Dream, which has been accused of workplace harassment issues, received middling reviews despite strong performances from both actors.Filming the game was one of the most challenging and fulfilling acting experiences of my career, Page said in the Deadline story. The storys rich narrative and emotional depth offer us a fantastic foundation. We want to create a unique vision of the characters and their journeys that resonates with fans and newcomers.Beyond: Two Souls was embroiled in scandal when, shortly after release, a fully nude model of Page was discovered in the games assets. While not shown or accessible during normal gameplay, a 2015 email leak indicated Page considered legal action against Beyond: Two Souls publisher Sony after Quantic Dream, whose artists allegedly rendered the model without Pages knowledge or consent, declined mediation with his legal team. Its unclear how the issue was resolved.We are absolutely thrilled to collaborate again with Elliot Page on this project, said Quantic Dream CEO and Beyond: Two Souls director David Cage about todays news. I was blown away by his acting performance in the game, and I couldnt think of anyone else to tell this story with the same passion on another medium. Beyond: Two Souls is a very special game for millions of players around the world who were moved by the story of Jodie and Aiden, and their journey in life and beyond. I know that Elliot has all the talent and instinct to make it something really unique on TV.The adaptation is currently in early development with no scheduled release date.

The Spider-Man 2 PC specs are coming in hot, with publisher PlayStation Studios dropping details about the PC ports system requirements just a day before launch.Originally released on PlayStation 5 in October 2023, Marvels Spider-Man 2 is the third game in the series, pairing together the protagonists from both previous entries (Peter Parker and Miles Morales) as they take on Venom and Kraven. The PC version of Spider-Man 2 is out tomorrow for Steam and Epic Games Store, but the radio silence around its system requirements had prompted confusion about what to expect from the port and what machines could even run it.PlayStation detailed the games system requirements on PC in a trailer and accompanying blog post. In addition to features like ray tracing and ultrawide monitor support, the PC version will also allow integrated use of the PS5s DualSense controllers. Given that Insomniacs Spider-Man games are among the few that have truly made use of the PS5s advanced haptics, youll definitely want to use one of those controllers if youre able to.Spider-Man 2 PC specs and system requirementsYou can see a summary of the PC features for Marvels Spider-Man 2 in the trailer above and see a rundown of the system requirements in the table below, while the folks at PlayStation Blog have a more detailed breakdown of the nuts and bolts. MinimumRecommendedHighHigh Ray TracingVery High Ray TracingUltimate Ray TracingAverage performance720P @ 30 FPS1080P @ 60 FPS1440P @ 60 FPS1440p @ 60 FPS1440p @ 60 FPS4K @ 60 FPSGraphics presetsVery lowMediumHighHigh Ray Tracing, HighHigh, Ray Tracing, Very HighVery High, Ray Tracing, UltimateGPUNVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650AMD Radeon RX 5500 XTNVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060AMD Radeon RX 5700NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070AMD Radeon RX 6800NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTNVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTXNVIDIAGeForce RTX4090CPUIntel Core i3-8100AMD Ryzen 3 3100Intel Core i5-8400AMD Ryzen 5 3600Intel Core i5-11400AMD Ryzen 5 5600Intel Core i5-11600KAMD Ryzen 5 5600XIntel Core i7-12700KAMD Ryzen 9 5900XIntel Core i9-12900KAMD Ryzen 7 7800X3DRAM16 GB16 GB16 GB16 GB16 GB32 GBOSWindows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)Windows 10/11 64-bit(version 1909 or higher)SSD Storage140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GB140 GBAnd if youre hopping into the game on PC, dont miss our Spider-Man 2 beginners guide, or guides on how to get all suits and where to find all Spider-Bots.

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Open-ear design earbuds have been getting popular, likely because active noise-canceling tech has gotten so good that people have forgotten what nature sounds like. The Ultra Open Earbuds are Bose's attempt at the trending tech, and they're decent. But at their current price of $179.99 (originally $299.99) from Woot, they are a steal. These earbuds have never been below the $200 mark on Amazon, but you can get them "unopened" (which is exactly what it sounds like) from Woot for the lowest price they've ever been, according to price tracking tools. Woot only ships to the 48 contiguous states in the U.S. If you have Amazon Prime, you get free shipping; otherwise, itll be $6 to ship. Bose Ultra Open $179.99 at Woot $299.99 Save $120.00 Get Deal Get Deal $179.99 at Woot $299.99 Save $120.00 Open-ear designs are not for everyoneespecially audiophiles. They have the same downside as bone conduction headphones, they let noise pollution in, and the bass and some mids are weak. But you can hear if a cyclist is about to hit you because you're running on the bike path. The Bose Ultra Open are not waterproof, but they are water-resistant with an IPX4 rating, meaning they can take some splashes, but don't put them under a running faucet. There is a wireless charging case you can get separately if you don't want to use the USB-C connection to charge it. You'll get about 7.5 hours of juice if you have the Immersive Audio feature off, and about two charges with the case for a total of around 27 hours.While these earbuds don't have multipoint connection, they do have a feature to pair two devices simultaneously and switch between them by pressing a button on the earbudacontrolled multipoint connection of sorts. They are compatible with Bluetooth 5.3 and work with the AAC, AptX Adaptive, and SBC codecs, so Android devices will get better audio than Apple users. Both users will be able to customize the EQ on the app and use features that you can read more about in CNET's review.

We may earn a commission from links on this page.Welcome to Cookbook of the Week. This is a series where I highlight cookbooks that are unique, easy to use, or just special to me. While finding a particular recipe online serves a quick purpose, flipping through a truly excellent cookbook has a magic all its own.Im always happy to see new cookbooks on the scene, but in truth, most weeks Im flipping through my archives; revisiting older books Ive picked up along the way. Some cookbooks I keep because theyre a treasure trove of reliable recipes (like this one), and others I keep because there are a few dishes in there that Ive always loved.One of the latter is Miette. This weeks cookbook comes from the eponymous bakery in San Francisco. I bought this cookbook of sweet treats many years ago, when I worked at Borders bookstorebefore I went to culinary school, before I had ever been to San Francisco, and before I knew how baking would shape my life. The vintage cake designs, scalloped edges of the pages, and classic recipes like walnut brownies, shortbread cookies, and salted caramels drew me in, and in these pages I could sense that baking would be a tool of comfort and meditation for me.A bit about the bookMiette first published in 2011, and comes from Meg Ray, the chef and founder of Miette bakery in California. Like many cookbooks that hit the market, it all starts with a popular restaurant or bakery, and if all is going well then a cookbook is sure to follow. I get the appeal. The bakerys offerings are European in backbone but have a distinctly retro American look. The desserts are classic, and true to how the bakery produces their products. That means you end up seeing recipes that are simple, like the shortbreads, and others that take patience and a bit of know-how.Keep in mind that youre looking for the most recent version. The 2011 cover features their three layer Tomboy cake. Youll want to grab the 2023 updated edition here, which has their single layer Old Fashioned Cake on the cover. The newest edition includes corrections of errors that were in the first publication.A great cookbook for someone who bakes for othersI admit that I dont use all of the recipes in this cookbook (I have other cookbooks I rely on for excellent cake recipes), but I love the small, packable recipes in Miette because they make beautiful gifts for my friends and family. Among many things, Im a sucker for giving gifts, and if its something Ive baked then I enjoy sharing it even more.This book is great for bakers who ship cookies out every holiday season, the person who drops off treats to their neighbors just because, and the coworker who brings in peanut butter cookies to share with his colleagues when they all go into the office on Thursdays. The cookies are often cut to have fluted edges, the brownies can be baked individually in cupcake pans, and the caramels can be wrapped like miniature gifts of their own. These treats were born to be gifts.The dish I made this weekThis week I was completely torn between the walnut brownies and the thumbprint cookies. If youve come across my hallongrottor post then youre aware that I have a severe dependency on jam-filled baked goods. After a few back and forths, I marked the page for thumbprints.The recipe is very simple and thats what I like about many of the cookie recipes, like the graham crackers or peanut butter cookiesMiette is not reinventing the classics. This thumbprint recipe has everything you might expect, flour, sugar, egg, butter, baking powder, and extracts. Solid. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann The instructions lean toward how they do production in their bakery, so youll mainly see mixing methods that use stand mixers. However, when cookie batches are small for home production Ill often just do it by hand. This recipe was one of those that work just fine in a bowl with a wooden spoon.I mixed, I scooped, I rolled, and I thumbprinted. (Well, I use an old wine cork, actuallycorks are superior to thumbs, here). This recipe, unlike many others, has the jam go in the imprint after the bake instead of before. Its a little bit of a different vibe, but the jam stays glossy and doesnt become a chewy disk after baking. Credit: Allie Chanthorn Reinmann The cookie was exactly as I hoped: pudgy and round with a dollop of sweet raspberry. A classic thumbprint cookie perfect for serving to friends or dropping off to your grandkids. The dough includes a healthy dose of vanilla extract, which I questioned at first, but not for very long. The cookie reminds me of raspberry vanilla ice cream and Im not mad about it.How to buy the book The hardcover of Miette is available online or as an ebook. I highly recommend supporting your local brick and mortar bookstores by asking them to order it to their location if they dont already have it in stock. Miette: Recipes from San Francisco's Most Charming Pastry Shop (Sweets and Dessert Cookbook, French Bakery) $18.21 at Amazon $34.99 Save $16.78 Shop Now Shop Now $18.21 at Amazon $34.99 Save $16.78

Waymo is planning on bringing vehicles to ten new cities in 2025, according to a report by The Verge. This new testing phase starts in Las Vegas and San Diego. These wont be pure robotaxis, as theyll have a manual operator.Its basically a small-scale experiment by the company to collect data and see how the self-driving system adapts to new locations, regional driving habits and unique weather patterns. All told, the company will be sending around ten vehicles to each new city. So what were looking for is places that are going to challenge our system and look very, very different, said Nick Rose, product manager for Waymos expansion efforts.On the road again: As Waymo prepares for broader scale, we're embarking on our largest road trip to date, visiting 10+ cities in 2025. First up: Las Vegas and San Diego.Read more about how our road trips help advance the Waymo Driver's AI: https://t.co/96XzLSFV8O pic.twitter.com/UDCWOCkVOk Waymo (@Waymo) January 29, 2025 To that point, Las Vegas is known for dense traffic and plenty of chaos surrounding drop-off zones near hotels and casinos. San Diego is similar to locations in which the Alphabet-owned company already operates, like Phoenix, but it wants to validate that the system performs well without having a ton of prior driving information.It plans on bringing the service to Miami, along with Austin and Atlanta. Waymo hasnt announced the remaining cities, but the system sure could use more testing in some of the colder parts of the country. The company has done some winter testing in upstate New York and Michigan, but that's about it. It also recently announced it would start to test driverless cars in Tokyo, but we arent sure if that counts as one of the ten new cities.Its extremely important for the company to test in multiple cities. This is to account for unique traffic conditions and weather, of course, but also for inconsistencies that can trip up driverless systems. For instance, fire trucks and ambulances tend to look slightly different across cities and states. Waymo, after all, hasnt always had the best track record when it comes to emergency vehicles.Freeways are an intrinsic part of the LA experience. To better serve our expansive 79-square-mile service area, we're beginning to provide our employees with access to fully autonomous rides on LA freewaysa key step toward expanding this capability to all riders. pic.twitter.com/oWqVQ1hlJz Waymo (@Waymo) January 28, 2025 This is just the latest move to ensure that driverless cars are ready for primetime. The company recently started bringing its robotaxis onto Los Angeles highways.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-to-test-its-driverless-system-in-ten-new-cities-in-2025-193852446.html?src=rss

If you love nothing more than good data visualization, Googles latest Sheets update will be right up your alley. The company has begun rolling out an upgrade to the apps Gemini side panel, a feature it introduced this past summer, to give its AI agent the ability to generate more in-depth insights about the data in your spreadsheets.Tapping the new Analyze for insights shortcut in Sheets will prompt Gemini to offer insights on contextual trends, patterns, and correlations between different variables in your data, according to Google. The agent will also create charts based on your data, which you can insert as static images in your document. Depending on the complexity of the prompt, Gemini will use Python code to complete the request.GoogleThere are a few notable limitations to the features current implementation. For instance, Google notes that once youve inserted a chart it cannot be modified. Additionally, any charts Gemini generates won't be directly linked to your data, so they wont automatically update after you make changes.Separately, Google recommends users be as specific as possible when prompting Gemini to provide data insights. For the most accurate results, ensure your data is in a consistent format, with clear headers and no missing values, the company adds.You can use the updated Gemini side panel in Sheets if you pay for Google One AI Premium, or if your company is a Business or Enterprise Workspace customer with a Standard or Plus plan. Anyone with a Gemini Education, Gemini Education Premium, Gemini Business or Gemini Enterprise add-on will also receive access. Google expects to complete the rollout of this feature by February 20, so you might not see in your version of Sheets right away.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/gemini-can-now-do-more-complex-data-analysis-in-google-sheets-191218214.html?src=rss

Downloading whole seasons is finally part of Netflix on iOS and iPadOS.