Madoc Batters likes a challenge. As head of cloud and IT security at Warner Leisure Hotels, hes inherited a big task leading the UK hotel chain on a digital transformation journey, including moving the business to the cloud to build a platform for long-term innovation.I gravitate to change thats what brought me into the position, he says. Previously head of the cloud centre of excellence and operational security at holiday operator Haven, Batters assumed his position at Warner in February 2024.Id already taken Haven through a digital transformation, standing up all the AWS infrastructure, getting the teams ready and putting the organisation in a good place operationally. I like pushing companies forward technologically with what they can deploy and their capabilities.Batters is completing a similar transformation at Warner. His team is coming to the end of a large on-premise IT to cloud migration. All the companys apps and services are being moved to Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.Weve got about 100 different applications and services that were living on-premise. Weve been moving those workloads over for the past year now, and were getting to the end of that process, he says. Within the next three months, we should have finished all that on-premise to cloud migration.Hows that transition going? So far, so good, says Batters, outlining a series of issues familiar to any IT leader whos led a similar large-scale digital transformation initiative.Some of these on-premise machines have been sitting there for 30 years. Every time you move something, another bunch of technology runs out from underneath the rock youve just lifted, and youre untangling a range of organically grown systems introduced over time, he says.Weve had old bits of equipment that may not have been turned off or tested, or theyre running on old software versions. This transformation process gives us a great chance to re-factor older systems. Theres never a dull day. Were always working at high speed.He gives an example of the replatforming work in progress: Were putting in place a new booking system from a third party. Instead of migrating our legacy system, well sunset that technology and then put our new booking system live. That system is due to go live this year as well.Batters reflects on his first year in the role and says the big achievement has been establishing the cloud capabilities and pushing full-steam ahead with the transition to on-demand IT. He says another success has been establishing an internal security practice at Warner and implementing a new approach to networking to support the shift to the cloud.Weve redefined our whole approach. Weve gone with a Microsoft-centric stack for security. Were also using infrastructure-as-a-service [IaaS] specialist Alkira, which means were bringing our networking in line with how we deliver our cloud resources, he says.That approach means weve moved from a traditional, long-winded change management system to a distributed, asynchronous change paradigm. Now we can deliver change to networks and security at the same pace as in the cloud.Batters says there are two key components to his security strategy. One is end-user compute. In addition to implementing a Microsoft-focused stack that uses Defender for endpoint protection, Sentinel for analysing internet traffic and Microsoft 365 for productivity, hes bolstered IT security awareness by providing cyber training for people across Warner.Humans are usually the weakest point, he says. If you do get hit with some issues, thats usually due to an action by one of the team accidentally. So, the training is about ensuring everyone knows what they should and shouldnt be doing and supporting them as best as we can in that area.Batters says the second core element of his strategy focuses on infrastructure security. Hes a massive believer in shifting left with security, a practice that moves testing to the beginning of the development process. Warner uses a mix of in-house and outsourced developers and is keen to create an enterprise-wide approach to data protection.What we try to do is secure by design. Security is a team game. Shifting left is like increasing the size of your security team. If you give capabilities and assistance to the developers, its almost like they become part of your security team, he says.The more people involved in security from the start, the better. So, we have static code analysis in our pipeline. We surface any issues in the infrastructure that theyre looking to build within the cloud. They can deal with these issues before anythings deployed.Security is a team game...the more people involved in security from the start, the betterMadoc Batters, Warner Leisure HotelsBatters says shifting left effectively is more than standing back and admiring your work once the strategy is established. Smart digital leaders take a proactive stance and ensure vulnerabilities are tracked and traced. He says the aim is to reduce administration and risks.Theres so much noise in security. When there is an actual issue, we will raise it automatically. We use the Wiz cloud security platform and plug that insight into our pipeline. We have Wiz in our back end and a single pane of glass for security, he says.We have connectors going into our cloud and on-premise systems. And well raise tickets automatically. The teams can look at those issues and make modifications, and any concerns are closed down automatically. That approach takes away some of the administrative burden for the teams.Batters says his IT organisation is focused on creating the technological foundations for the business, enabling the hotel chains customers to have the best possible experiences.Were the platform team, and we make sure that all the guardrails and the base infrastructure are set up to allow the stream-aligned teams in the business to work on top of those systems and services, he says.Networks are a key element of this infrastructure. One of the most important foundational elements is the companys relationship with Alkira. The networking specialists end-to-end platform connects users and branches to multiple clouds. Batters says hes been looking for this as-a-service approach for a long time.Ive worked in networks for many years, he says. I worked at BT in 1997, so Ive got a long legacy working in networks and know how things are implemented and deployed. I was aware the speed of innovation within networks was nowhere near as fast as the cloud. Ive always wanted networks to catch up.Batters says thats where Alkiras as-a-service provision comes in. The technology can be deployed with infrastructure as code, he says. And Im very code-first for our cloud infrastructure. Its all deployed as code using Terraform. When I saw Alkira, I thought, Well, this is exactly what were looking for. Because its deployed as code, we can plug it into our pipeline and add all the other tools we have.For example, complex changes to firewalls and other security settings that might have taken weeks before can now be sorted in minutes. Batters says the combination of cloud, security and infrastructure-as-code makes it easier to roll out innovations to front-end services to hotels quickly and effectively.Our use of technology is all about giving our customers a great experience during their short breaks at our locations around the UK. We have several ways to enable those experiences. One is customers have apps that they can use to book activities, like spa days, golf, dining experiences and shows, he says.We also have a website and a direct booking system. We want to be able to give the best experiences we can across all those platforms. Were also rolling out Alexa [devices] in our hotel rooms so customers can see whats happening, order things to their rooms, check different events that are going on, or book time slots.Batters says his priority for the next year is to finish off Warners cloud migration. That process will be followed by a period of refactoring to ensure the on-demand services and networks are in the best possible state and running optimally.As with security, the refactoring will involve shifting left, this time using FinOps, an operational framework that helps organisations manage their cloud spending. One of the key issues with on-demand IT is cost, he says.When we deploy things into the cloud, FinOps will tell us exactly how much the move will cost before we make it. Were empowering the engineers. Well get them to revisit what they put in before and get them to go through and see what we can refactor.Batters says this proactive approach to service management is the key to success for a modern digital leader. IT chiefs must enable their teams, giving developers, operations specialists and security staff space to innovate. That process must include exploiting emerging technologies, such as generative artificial intelligence (GenAI).You need guardrails in place, he says. But youve got to let people innovate. Give your teams access to secure GenAI. If they dont have access to a service youve created for your internal teams, theyll experiment themselves using a tool like ChatGPT. That approach creates the risk of people using company-confidential information for their prompts.Batters also likes to empower his staff. Instead of dictating what people should do, hes eager for staff to get involved in decision-making processes. Successful IT chiefs create diverse teams with a range of skills that are confident enough to make big calls.Being a digital leader now is not about directing from the front of the ship, he says. Its about enabling people to make intelligent decisions based on data they can collect from as many places and people as possible.Read more interviews with travel and leisure IT leadersRahul Todkar, head of data and AI, Tripadvisor: The travel website generates huge amounts of data as a result, artificial intelligence offers equally huge opportunities for the business and its customers.Raymond Boyle, vice-president of data and analytics, Hyatt Hotels: Data culture is a key focus for the strategy at the global hotel chain, especially as AI opens up new opportunities to drive personalisation and trust with customers.Interview: Nick Woods, CIO, Manchester Airports Group: The IT chief of the UKs biggest airport operator wants to give his organisation the worlds most intelligent airports he explains the data-led approach thats aiming to reach that destination.

Does searching for your phone number or name turn up lots of personal info about you on Google? Here's what you can do about it.

Prakhar Khanna/ZDNETI've spent large portions of my life looking for ways to extend the battery life on myAndroid phones. Admittedly, that sounds rather dramatic, but growing up with only budget models meant I was constantly tweaking device settings to squeeze every bit of juice out of their batteries. Thanks to this micromanaging, I successfully pushed the batteries on all my past smartphones to their absolute limit. I don't want to horde this knowledge to myself, so I've decided to share it with everyone.Also: I compared the two best Android phones right now - and it was pretty dang closeThere are many different methods for saving battery life. However, there are 12 key settings that you can change right now to see improvements immediately. The following list highlights the most effective, easiest, and quickest tweaks to improve device longevity regardless of the Android phone you're rocking, whether it's the latest model from Samsung, a fancy Google Pixel, or a cutting-edge OnePlus 13. Plus, you won't have to sacrifice the high-quality experience of using your phone.Although the power settings are practically the same on every Android phone you can buy, the process for adjusting them can vary between devices. Be sure to keep this factor in mind when following the steps I lay out because the approach might be slightly different depending on the model you're using.1. Turn off the always-on displayOne of the biggest battery drainers for any smartphone is the always-on display. Companies regularly tell you that this display setting only drains about 1% to 2% an hour, but let's be honest -- it's always way more. It may be nice to glance at your phone while it sits on a table to check the time, but it's probably not worth sacrificing battery life.Also: There's one new Pixel 'upgrade' you might not love - here's how to fix itHow to: Open the Settings app and locate the Lock Screen portion. You'll likely find this portion in the main Settings list or under "Display". From there, locate the option to "always show info" or a simple toggle to enable the Always On Display. Either way, turn the option off and check to make sure your screen goes completely blank when you lock it.2. Enable Adaptive BatteryThere's a handy feature built into Androids called Adaptive Battery, and it's available on most devices. Adaptive Battery can automatically manage your phone's performance and efficiency in the background using special processes to extend your battery life. For example, when you don't need maximum performance for something simple like scrolling through your inbox, the setting will throttle things down and save you some juice.How to: Go to Settings > Battery > Adaptive preferences and check to ensure "Adaptive battery" is enabled. If it's not, flick it on.3. Activate Battery SaverAlongside Adaptive Battery, Battery Saver mode is another helpful feature that can extend the longevity of your smartphone between charges. The feature makes sweeping changes across your device's software, like limiting visual effects, restricting apps in the background, and turning on dark mode if it isn't already on.Also: I never travel without these universal chargers - and they can power laptopsPixel phones take this effort further by having an Extreme Battery Saver, which deactivates more features and pauses most apps. However, because this option greatly restricts an Android phone's performance, I recommend only using Extreme Battery Saver when it's absolutely necessary, such as when the phone's charge is in the single digits.Most, if not all, Android phones possess a Battery Saver function, although they may have different names. On Galaxy phones, for example, it's called Power Saving mode. Others may refer to it as low-power mode. Be sure to visit your phone manufacturer's support website for help on your model.How to: On Pixel phones, go to Settings > Battery > Battery Saver. You can also choose a schedule for when the feature will activate or turn off automatically. On Galaxy phones, go to Settings > Battery and device care > Battery. Flip the toggle switch next to Power Saving to activate the feature.4. Switch to dark mode Xiaomi 15 Ultra. Prakhar Khanna/ZDNETOver the past few years, many midrange and budget Android phones have followed their flagship brethren by adopting OLED displays. The technology allows individual pixels to dim or completely shut off when not in use. This feature is far more beneficial for battery life than traditional LCD screens with one big backlight. By switching to your phone's dark theme, those pixels will be dimmer far more often and, in turn, save some juice.Also: Finally, I found an Android phone that can replace my $3,500 Sony cameraHow to: Go to Settings > Display on your Android phone. There, you'll find the option to switch between a light and dark theme, plus the choice to have dark mode turn on automatically at a certain time of day. To maximize battery life, I recommend keeping dark mode turned on all the time.5. Adjust your display brightness and sleep timeIt's common knowledge that cranking down your display's brightness can help save battery usage, but it's worth repeating. Modern phones have plenty of brightness, and it's sometimes unnecessary to have the brightness level so high when you're only scrolling Instagram or checking your email.Also, it's important to shorten the time it takes for your phone to go to sleep. Users often set the sleep timer to a minute or more, which can drain your battery when you aren't using your phone, and set it down on a table without locking it. Make these two adjustments, and you'll be on the path to a better battery life.How to: Swipe down once or twice from the top of your phone's display to visit the quick settings menu. You'll see a slider with a picture of a sun or other source of light next to it. Drag the slider to the left to decrease your brightness. To reduce the time it takes for your phone to sleep, go to Settings > Display and change "Screen timeout" to anything below a minute.6. Remove unused accounts Google Pixel 9. Max Buondonno/ZDNETWe've all done this at some point: you set up a new account for a social media app or email service (which you forget about) and then create another account that becomes your primary account for that service or platform. I've gone through this process numerous times. If you set up accounts on your phone, all the old accounts remain, constantly refreshing and draining your battery life in the background. I highly recommend removing some old accounts from your smartphone sooner rather than later.How to: Go to the Settings app and find the accounts section (on Samsung phones, it's called "Accounts and backup", while Pixel phones use "Passwords & accounts"). You'll find a list of all the accounts synced to your phone. Tap on one of them and scroll down to the "Remove account" button. Tap it, and the account will disappear.7. Turn off keyboard sounds and hapticsIf you're using your phone, chances are you're typing on the keyboard pretty often, whether to post to social media or respond to your friend's messages. If you have sound and haptic feedback enabled, your battery may suffer because your phone needs to make a series of vibrations and noises every time you tap a letter. Hearing and feeling the keyboard as you type is a nice experience, but it's not ideal if you want to eke out some extra juice from a full charge.Also:Android 16 release is way ahead of schedule - and here's whyHow to: Open the Settings app and locate "Language and input". This section is where your keyboard settings live. Find the section where you get to choose your default keyboard, then tap the gear icon next to it to manage settings. If you're a Gboard user (like most people), you'll then go to Preferences > Keypress, and disable "Sound on keypress" and "Haptic feedback on keypress".8. Reduce your notifications Xiaomi 15 Ultra (left) and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (right). Prakhar Khanna/ZDNETYou might not realize it, but notifications can be one of the biggest drainers of your phone's battery life. Not only is your phone buzzing and ringing all day, but the apps themselves are constantly refreshing in the background, looking for new notifications to send your way. Most apps have ways of limiting the amount of notifications you get, but the easiest way to turn them off is through your phone's Settings app.How to: Go to Settings > Notifications > "App notifications" to see a list of all the apps installed on your phone. Next to each entry are toggles that, when flipped, will disable all notifications for that particular app.9. Turn off "Hey Google" detectionIf your phone is constantly listening for you to say, "Hey Google", chances are your battery is draining away. Your microphone is active, waiting to hear you say those two magic words that trigger the digital assistant, and it takes a fair amount of energy to run that process all day. Disabling the feature is a no-brainer for anyone who doesn't use the Assistant daily. And let's be honest: how many of us use the assistant daily?How to: Open the Google app on your phone and tap your profile picture in the top-right corner. Then, visit Settings > Google Assistant > Hey Google & Voice Match and flick off "Hey Google". Now your phone will only trigger the Assistant if you hold down the power button or via another method.10. Reduce your screen's refresh ratePhone screens have gotten really good over the past few years, thanks partly to the faster refresh rates manufacturers have implemented. Whether it's 90Hz, 120Hz, or even faster, increasing the times a screen refreshes helps make animations, scrolling social media, and everyday interactions feel smoother and more responsive. Unfortunately, a high refresh rate also means increased battery usage -- you might sometimes be better off disabling the feature.Also:4 Pixel phone tricks every user should know - including my favoriteHow to: Open the Settings app and navigate to the Display section. Here, you'll find the settings to configure your refresh rate. Most smartphones call the feature something different; Google labels it "Smooth Display" while Samsung calls it "Motion smoothness". Find the setting associated with the refresh rate and revert to the standard rate. Your screen will likely seem a bit choppier as a result, but that's completely normal. It simply means it's operating at 60Hz, the speed at which even the best phones used to run a few years ago.11. Turn off the wireless features you aren't using Cesar Cadenas/ZDNETI've never been a proponent of turning off wireless features, such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, or location services, to save a phone's battery life. So many apps and services rely on those connections that your Android experience can diminish quickly. However, if you don't use anything that needs Bluetooth or don't use your phone for GPS, it might be worth disabling some of these features to extend your battery life.Also:A smartphone that's also a projector? I tested it, and it's surprisingly goodHow to: On practically every Android phone, you can swipe down once or twice from the top to access quick settings. Here, you'll find icons for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, location, airplane mode, and more. Touch them once to turn them off, and touch them again to turn them back on. You can also control all these settings through the Settings app, although Quick Settings is the easiest way to access them.12. Use low-power modeLow-power mode can slightly differ from Android phone to Android phone, but the general premise remains the same. This mode disables some features in the background, limits how often apps are refreshed, lowers your screen brightness, reduces the refresh rate, and more to save battery life in a pinch.How to: There are several ways to enable low-power mode on your Android phone, but the most common is swiping down twice from the top of your screen to get to quick settings and then tapping the battery shortcut. The shortcut should look like a battery with a plus sign or something similar. You'll then get notified that low-power mode (or whatever it's called on your phone) has been enabled. You can follow the same steps to disable this mode.See also

Implementing AI into DevOps requires developing a work environment that supports experimental approaches combined with data-driven insights.

The giraffes gut microbiome is made up of a variety of bacteria and fungi, and is largely determined by the giraffes species not by what they eat.A group of wild reticulated giraffes (Giraffa reticulata). (Credit: Tyler Kartzinel)Tyler Kartzinel with kind permissionI recently ran across a study that surprised me: this study reports that a giraffes gut microbiome is mostly determined by its species and not by its diet. These findings highlight an unexpected disconnection between diet and gut flora composition. This is remarkable because giraffes, as ruminants, are completely dependent upon their gut microbiome to break down the plant material they consume. Thus, this studys findings change the foundation of our understanding of host-microbe relationships.How did the researchers suss this out?An international team of researchers made this surprising discovery by sequencing plant and bacterial DNA found in faecal samples collected from three wild giraffe species, the reticulated giraffe, the Masai giraffe and the northern giraffe, living around the equator in Kenya (Figure 1).Figure 1: Overview of study system and species. (A) Map over Kenya with inset showing the geographic ... [+] distribution of conservancies where giraffes were sampled, colored by the giraffe species present in the area. (B) Images of the three giraffe species in this study are provided with a cladogram showing the phylogenetic relationships between them.doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03480To identify the plants and bacteria in the giraffe faeces, the team relied on fieldwork combined with DNA metabarcoding methodologies to investigate both the bacterial composition of the giraffe gut microbiome and the identities of the plants they were eating. DNA metabarcoding is a cost-effective method for identifying multiple species in a mixed sample, such as feces, using high-throughput sequencing.Giraffes are the worlds largest ruminants, yet surprisingly little is known about their gut microbiomes and how these microbial communities contribute to their nutrition, and overall health, said the studys lead author, evolutionary microbiologist, Elin Videvall, who currently leads a research group that studies wildlife diet and microbiomes at Uppsala University.What was the primary goal of this study?Given that ruminants rely entirely on their gut microbes to break down plant material, we wanted to understand whether dietary differences among giraffe species shaped their microbiomes or if other factors played a more dominant role, Dr Videvall explained to me in email.Dr Videvall and collaborators found that despite consuming a wide variety of plants over time, giraffe microbiomes remained remarkably similar within each species.We expected that giraffes with similar diets would also have similar microbiomes, but we found no such connection, Dr Videvall reported. Instead, we saw that giraffes seem to maintain species-specific microbiomes, even when individuals within the same species may eat completely different sets of plants.Geography strongly predicts giraffe dietsDr Videvall and collaborators found that although giraffes do eat locally, they uncovered no consistent link between diet and microbiome composition or diversity.Our results would not support the conclusion that an individual giraffes microbiome is insensitive to changes in its diet, said the studys senior author, conservation biologist Tyler Kartzinel, an Associate Professor in the Department of Ecology, Evolution, & Organismal Biology at Brown University. Professor Kartzinel was Dr Videvalls postdoctoral advisor when this work was conducted.Rather, what we find is that the normal variety of host-microbiome interactions that occur in these populations are strongly shaped by the host species identity and the population in which it occurs.This study suggests that the evolution of gut flora in giraffes may be more complex than previously assumed, and this microbial community may actually be shaped by long-term evolutionary processes that go beyond diet.I anticipated finding stronger diet-microbiome linkages when we began this study, Professor Kartzinel noted in email, [but] the evidence we currently have suggests giraffes can maintain normal microbiomes across a wide variety of environmental conditions and food sources.Dr Videvall, Professor Kartzinel and collaborators also found that most of the major groups of bacteria living in the guts of the three giraffe taxa are similar across the three study giraffe species, reflecting their recent evolutionary split.Even the majority of bacterial strains that our DNA-based method recovered were shared by at least two of the species, Professor Kartzinel told me in email. These patterns are consistent with evidence that these giraffe species diverged relatively recently in evolutionary history, and that they live in different places where they eat different foods.Further, Dr Videvall, Professor Kartzinel and collaborators also found that at least some giraffe gut bacteria are similar to those found in other ruminants, including cattle and sheep.Ill note also, for the benefit of my fellow microbiome-enthusiasts, that giraffes are the worlds largest ruminant. Their entire digestive system is intimately and inextricably linked to the proper functioning of its gut flora just like it is in cows and sheep, Professor Kartzinel explained in email. It stands to reason that a fascinating and highly diverse world of bacteria calls this oversized gut its home, so the potential for discovery is hard to overstate.What surprised you most about this studys findings?[W]hat really surprised me was how much giraffe diets differed across the populations that we surveyed even when we were comparing different populations of the same species so I find myself wondering not so much about what makes their microbiomes so different when they eat such similar diets but what causes their microbiomes to be so similar even when their diets are not, Professor Kartzinel replied in email.I anticipated finding stronger diet-microbiome linkages when we began this study, [but] the evidence we currently have suggests giraffes can maintain normal microbiomes across a wide variety of environmental conditions and food sources, Professor Kartzinel explained in email.Gut microbiomes are often linked to diets because they are ultimately responsible for breaking down the foods giraffes eat its like the engine that drives their digestive process so we wanted to consider any of these links that might be strong enough to warrant attention in conservation planning.In short, giraffes eat a wide variety of trees and shrubs that not only provide nutritional variety, but may serve as famine foods that giraffes may not particularly like to eat but that they can at least temporarily rely on during environmental shocks, such as the megadrought that recently gripped the region.Studying their gut microbiomes can also provide insights into how species adapt to different environments and diets, which is crucial for conservation efforts, especially as habitats change, Dr Videvall added in email.Microbiomes may be important considerations for giraffe conservation planningThose who follow the conservation plight of giraffes know they are teetering on the verge of a silent extinction, where their populations are rapidly dwindling into nothingness but tragically, their precarious situation is often overlooked, although Professor Kartzinel, Dr Videvall and collaborators are working hard to change that.My group is known for working with non-profits and governmental agencies on research priorities that could help conservation on the ground, Professor Kartzinel said in email.They are conspicuous animals, marvelously adapted for their environment, but still so poorly understood: they have been treated as one widespread species, though recent studies have supported at least four genetically distinct species [read more here] that should each be afforded protections, Professor Kartzinel continued in email. Three of these species ranges nearly intersect in southern Kenya, providing a unique opportunity to understand their differences and any unique needs they might have.Because all three study species are endangered, any knowledge of what they eat is valuable information, especially when planning which areas are most important to preserve to ensure their continued access to nutritious forage plants.We began this study as an international collaboration between academics and conservation professionals. We hope our research can provide better insight into giraffe diets and help support the conservation of giraffes, Professor Kartzinel summarized.Additional collaborations involved in this study include the Giraffe Conservation Foundation, an NGO devoted exclusively to giraffe conservation, the Mpala Research Centre, a pioneering collaboration between the United States and Kenya using field-based research into a variety of intertwined and pressing concerns, such as conservation, climate change, biodiversity, genomics, ecology, agriculture, human-wildlife interactions, and public health, and the East African Herbarium, which maintains the largest botanical collection in tropical Africa.Source:Elin Videvall, Brian A. Gill, Michael B. Brown, Hannah K. Hoff, Bethan L. Littleford-Colquhoun, Peter Lokeny, Paul M. Musili, and Tyler R. Kartzinel (2025). Diet-microbiome covariation across three giraffe species in a close-contact zone, Global Ecology and Conservation, 58:e03480 | doi:10.1016/j.gecco.2025.e03480 Copyright by GrrlScientist | hosted by Forbes | LinkTr.ee

Key TakeawaysReddit has launched a few new content tools that will make it easier for users to connect and contribute across the platform.These tools will help in finding the right communities to post and ensuring that your content does not violate any guidelines.The features are available on both mobile and desktop to users worldwide.On Thursday, Reddit launched a new set of content moderation and analytical tools that will help create a better experience for its users online and boost engagement.These tools are designed to help users find communities, contribute new posts, and ensure that they dont break any community guidelines. This will be especially helpful for new users who might not know where or how to post.Reddit is dedicated to enhancing user contributions and community interactions, paving the way for innovative experiences. Rosa Catal, Senior Director AI & Machine Learning at RedditLets quickly take a look at the new changes Reddit has made.Post CheckThe first feature is Post Check which runs an automatic check on content to ensure its well within the community guidelines. Sometimes a user might have accidentally broken a rule, which would cause the post to be removed later.You can access this feature from the little wand icon on the bottom left corner of your screen. The tool will highlight the parts that are against the rules, making it easier for you to fix them.In case your post is removed because of community guidelines issues, you can now easily post it to a different subreddit. The platform itself will recommend which other communities you can post it on without violating their guidelines.Another feature addition is Community Suggestions. If you are unsure about the community where you should make a post, this feature will be handy.Once you click on the drop-down menu from the Pick a Community option, it will suggest the most relevant communities based on your posts content. This will help you connect with the right audience and increase engagement on your post.Sometimes you might not be able to contribute to a community because of some other criteria that you dont meet. In that case, Reddit will help you understand how you can overcome it.For example, if you are unable to contribute because of low karma points, this new feature will notify you about the same and tell you that you can increase your karma points by commenting and posting on the platform.Post InsightsLast but not the least, Reddit has also introduced Post Insights which will give you better information on how your post is doing in terms of views, shares, and upvotes. This in turn will help you understand which kind of content does well and which does not.The best part is that Reddit went for a global rollout. These features are now available to all Reddit users both on mobile and desktop.These features are the latest in the line of Reddits growing number of innovative tools. The platform has been heavily investing in new technology to keep up with its rivals.In December, it launched a new feature called Reddit Answers (which is still in beta mode and only available in the US), which summarizes community discussions.Add Techreport to Your Google News Feed Get the latest updates, trends, and insights delivered straight to your fingertips. Subscribe now! Subscribe now Vlad is Techreport's in-house Executive Editor. With over a decade of experience in tech content, he's passionate about computer hardware, an advocate of online privacy, and strongly believes in the open-source, scarce-money nature of cryptocurrency. When hes not working, hes traveling with his partner and their cat, learning Python, or reading good books. He never owned a PC he did not build. View all articles by Vlad Melnic Our editorial processThe Tech Reporteditorial policyis centered on providing helpful, accurate content that offers real value to our readers. We only work with experienced writers who have specific knowledge in the topics they cover, including latest developments in technology, online privacy, cryptocurrencies, software, and more. Our editorial policy ensures that each topic is researched and curated by our in-house editors. We maintain rigorous journalistic standards, and every article is 100% written byreal authors.

Rumor mill: Can Nvidia redeem itself and the Blackwell consumer line with the RTX 5060? Probably not, but it might not be too long before we find out. According to new reports, the RTX 5060 series, consisting of three cards, will be announced next week, though they might not be available to buy (assuming they're actually in stock) until a month later. According to VideoCardz, Nvidia has just informed its board partners that the RTX 5060 series will be announced on March 13, which is next Thursday.The same report claims that there will be three variants of the RTX 5060: the standard version, the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB, and the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB. The latter two cards appeared in a Eurasian Economic Union database in January, strengthening the report's credibility.Related reading: AMD Radeon RX 9070 ReviewWhile Nvidia has not revealed when it plans on releasing these cards, Zed Wang, better known as his X handle/pseudonym MEGAsizeGPU, wrote in a post that they wouldn't be on the shelves until a month later. This lines up with previous rumors pointing to an April launch, though it's unclear if Nvidia will release all three cards simultaneously or stagger their launch.Whenever the RTX 5060 series get here, it'll be surprising if we don't see a repeat of what happened and is still happening with the other Blackwell cards: low or zero stock levels and retailers having almost no availability. // Related StoriesAs for the cards themselves, the RTX 5060 Ti is believed to have a 180W TDP, though we don't know if this is for the 8GB or 16GB models, or both. For comparison, the 8GB RTX 4060 Ti has a 160W TGP while the 16GB version of that card has a 165W TGP.It's possible that AMD will release the Radeon RX 9060 is April, too. Team Red is also rumored to launch 8GB and 16GB versions of the RX 9060 XT, mirroring what Nvidia is doing with the RTX 5060 Ti.Ultimately, though, a lot of people will likely be apathetic about the RTX 5060 and its variants. Blackwell has drawn a slew of criticism for its underwhelming generational uplifts, pricing, dishonest marketing, and technical issues such as missing ROPs. The latest entry in the series, the RTX 5070, scored a lowly 60 in our review, where we called it overpromised, underdelivered, and ultimately pointless.Most popular GPUs among Steam survey participants during FebruaryNvidia's xx60 series has long been a favorite among mainstream gamers: the RTX 3060 recently lost its long-held position at the top of the Steam survey to the RTX 4060, and the RTX 4060 Ti is in third place. Even the RTX 2060 remains in the top ten. We'll have to wait and see if the RTX 5060 (eventually) proves to be as popular.

What just happened? Street-level surveillance technologies such as automated license plate readers, facial recognition systems, and cell-site simulators (CSS) have become increasingly prevalent. Among these, CSS, also known as Stingrays or IMSI catchers, are particularly concerning due to their ability to masquerade as legitimate cellular towers, intercepting and logging sensitive information from mobile devices. As such, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has developed an open-source tool called Rayhunter to help detect and understand the use of these devices. CSS operate by mimicking cell towers, tricking nearby phones into connecting to them instead of legitimate towers. This allows law enforcement to pinpoint phone locations with greater accuracy than other methods and log unique identifiers like IMSI numbers and IMEIs without involving phone companies. Some CSS can even intercept communications under certain conditions, including phone calls, text messages, and mobile internet traffic.However, the exact capabilities and deployment of CSS remain largely unknown due to a lack of transparency from manufacturers and law enforcement agencies, according to EFF.One of the most significant concerns with CSS is their potential to undermine privacy rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment in the U.S. These devices can be used to track individuals without their knowledge, often without a warrant, raising serious legal and ethical questions. In some cases, CSS have been used at protests and other gatherings, potentially infringing on First Amendment rights by surveilling large groups of people without probable cause.EFF has created Rayhunter to identify when these technologies are in use. Running on an Orbic mobile hotspot available for under $20, EFF has designed the tool to be user-friendly and accessible to individuals of all technical skill levels.Rayhunter intercepts and analyzes control traffic between the mobile hotspot and cell towers, looking for suspicious events such as forced downgrades to 2G networks, which are vulnerable to interception, or unusual IMSI requests that could indicate CSS activity. It alerts users to potential threats and allows them to review logs for further analysis. // Related StoriesRayhunter's interface is very simple, with a color-coded system indicating whether any suspicious activity has been detected. A green line (or blue for colorblind users) means no threats are detected, while a red signal indicates potential CSS activity.Users can access detailed logs via a web-based interface by connecting to the hotspot's Wi-Fi network or using a USB connection with Android Debug Bridge (ADB).Installing Rayhunter is relatively straightforward: download the software package, plug in the device, and run an installation script on Mac or Linux systems. The tool is open-source and available on GitHub under a GPL-3.0 license.By rolling out Rayhunter, EFF hopes to determine if CSS are used to surveil activities protected by the First Amendment, such as protests or religious gatherings, and to gather empirical data on the exploits used by these devices. This data will also help researchers understand how CSS exploit network vulnerabilities, enabling the development of better defenses against them.EFF also wants to see Rayhunter inform policy discussions and enhance legal protections against unauthorized surveillance, particularly in countries without robust free speech protections. In the U.S., for example, there have been attempts to introduce legislation like the Cell-Site Simulator Warrant Act, which would require warrants for CSS use, though such efforts have faced challenges. Recognition of the need for oversight is growing: The Department of Justice has implemented policies requiring search warrants for CSS use in many cases.

Rebellions upcoming survival RPG, Atomfall, will feature serious consequences for reckless players. In an interview with Digital Trends, Rebellion confirmed that players will be able to kill every NPC they meet.Atomfall is a single-player nuclear RPG in the vein of Fallout 4 and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 set in a fictional version of the U.K. ravaged by the Windscale fire. As you might expect from a game set in such a brutal world, death is a big part of the story and players can choose to be stone cold killers, if they desire.Recommended VideosYou can kill absolutely everyone. You can kill no one, Rebellion Head of Design Ben Fisher told Digital Trends during an interview at an Atomfall preview event in London. Its entirely up to you. There are characters that offer you ways out of the quarantine zone if you do a job for them. Its up to you to decide who to trust.Please enable Javascript to view this contentI played over an hour of Atomfall at this preview event and confirmed that Fishers comment was truthful. Even when I was speaking to an NPC that seemed extremely important to the major narrative beats, like the Captain of Atomfalls militaristic faction, the takedown option appeared as I stood near them. The only time I ever used it was to kill a baker who was withholding information from me, but I later learned that there was a less violent way to complete that storyline.In general, NPCs are very reactive to the players actions. Some will ask you to step back before attacking you and wont start attacking if you listen to them. The guards in a village will get mad at you if you brandish a gun and start running around town. Atomfall is shaping up to be a survival sandbox that reacts to the player, and Fisher emphasized the importance of that sense of freedom.Sometimes, one character might want you to kill another, and when you do that, youre closing down leads, Fisher says. So you can kill absolutely anyone. Thats to give you that sense of freedom, and maybe the situation will get out of hand anyway without having to kill anyone.Atomfall will be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 27 and be part of the Xbox Game Pass catalog from day one.Editors Recommendations

To maximize your investment in gaming PC deals, youre going to have to purchase a proper display. Fortunately, there are some amazing offers that are available online right now, and one of them is this $200 discount from Samsung for the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor. From its original price of $900, its down to $700 but only for a limited time. This deal will end when the Discover Samsung Spring Sale ends.These Samsung G-line monitors seem to be having a fire sale right now. If this G6 doesnt scratch your itch, check out these deals on the Samsung G7 and Samsung G8.Samsung is a mainstay in our list of the best gaming monitors, and youll see why thats the case with the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor. Launched less than a year ago, the display is designed to meet the needs of even the most hardcore gamers. Its 360Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time greatly exceed the recommendations in our computer monitor buying guide, and they make gameplay extremely smooth and lag-free. The screen uses QD-OLED technology, which supports more than 1 billion colors and HDR10+ for lifelike visuals, and with 1440p resolution, youll feel like youre in the worlds that are created by the best PC games.RelatedThe 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor comes with two HDMI ports and a DisplayPort 1.4 for versatility in connecting to your gaming PC, while Core Lighting+ technology provides ambient RGB lighting to match your mood. The display also features a pulsating heat pipe to prevent burn-ins, a dynamic cooling system that prevents overheating, and a thermal modulation system that controls brightness to manage temperatures.The monitor deals that are worth buying for gamers dont come cheap, but you can score huge savings if you know where to look. Samsung itself is an excellent source for discounts, and its currently selling the 27-inch Samsung Odyssey OLED G6 gaming monitor for $700 instead of its sticker price of $900. The $200 in savings are expected to run through the current Discover Samsung Spring Sale, so it wont stick around forever.Editors Recommendations