Our Pick Apple iPad Air 2025 (M3) Best for most people $499.00 Amazon The Good & The Bad Fast performance Long battery life Comes in 11- and 13-inch models Landscape webcam Very similar to previous generation Our review Read our full review of the Apple iPad Air 2025 (M3). Who it's for The iPad Air is the best iPad for most people. It will be your new go-to device for streaming, reading, or creative projects. And if you plan on using your tablet as a substitute for a laptop, it'll work for that, too, especially when paired with the new Magic Keyboard for iPad Air or Apple Pencil. It's fast, moves smoothly between apps, and has a stunning high-definition display.While we prefer the iPad Pro for creatives, the iPad Air is a more budget-friendly option that will still handle tough design jobs, and it's compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro.For all the power this tablet provides, it's an exceptional value. Even with the 2025 upgrade to the M3 chip, the iPad Air starts at $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. Why we like it The iPad Air didn't really need a 2025 upgrade, but Apple delivered one anyway. Now with the M3 chip, it has the same processing power as a MacBook, scoring 11,464 on our Geekbench 6 test. AKA, it packs a lot of power into a more affordable package.While the iPad Pro is technically slightly thinner and lighter, the iPad Air still lives up to its name. It's a great tablet to bring on the go due to its light weight, which helps avoid wrist strain when holding the device.It also has an impressive battery life: It ran over 14 hours in our tests, and it has crisp displays for brilliant graphics. While Apple is desperate to tout the iPad as a gaming device, we wouldn't say it's your best bet with only 8GB of RAM. However, it has plenty of power to handle illustration and design work when paired with an Apple Pencil. Essentially, it gives you everything you'd want in a starter MacBook, but it costs you just $599 and has a touchscreen. Details Processor: Apple M3 chip Screen size: 11 or 13 inches Memory: 8GB Storage: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB Battery life: 14 hours GET IT Apple iPad Pro 2024 (M4) Best for professionals The Good & The Bad Contains Apple's powerful M4 chip Extra-long battery life Razor-thin design Impressive performance Brilliant XDR display Nano-glass only available on 1TB and 2TB models Expensive Our review Read our full review of the Apple iPad Pro 2024. Who it's for Professionals planning on using an iPad as their tablet and laptop should go for the iPad Pro. This 2024 release is loaded with Apple's fastest processing power thanks to the M4 processor. Graphic designers can store all of their creative work on the device, which has up to 2TB of storage. It's also a smart choice for video editors, as the 1TB and 2 TB models feature texturized nano-glass, which prevents glare while working in any environment — even full sun. Plus, the XDR Retina display lets you play back HDR video and use this tablet as a reference monitor.For creative professionals, the Apple iPad Pro 2024 is a dream come true. It's also compatible with the Apple Pencil Pro, a tool that features a unique squeezable design and a barrel roll feature, enhancing precision and control in design work. Why we like it While the iPad Air is going to be the best for most people, the iPad Pro levels things up for professionals.The 2024 iPad Pro isn't just a great tablet but an outstanding laptop. Loaded with Apple's latest M4 processing chip, it's the most advanced option from the brand — or any brand. When running the Geekbench 6 tests, Gedeon did a double take at the results.It got a score of 14,586, making it more powerful than most laptops we've tested. Even better, that peak performance doesn't drain the battery life, as this beast ran for over 16 hours in our tests. And it does all of this in a razor-thin package. As Gedeon says, it feels like "cradling the whispers of technology."You can often find 1TB storage in computers, but 2TB is rare in a laptop and nearly unheard of with a tablet, so it can store large files without a problem. Plus, the 1TB and 2TB models come with nano-glass, a texturized glass front that prevents glare no matter the environment. Details Processor: M4 chip Screen size: 11 or 13 inches Memory: 8GB or 16GB Storage: 256GB, 512GB, 1TB, or 2TB Battery life: Over 16 hours GET IT Apple iPad (11th generation) Best on a budget $349.00 Apple.com The Good & The Bad Quick performance USB-C charging port High-quality cameras No 1TB storage option Who it's for While our top pick, the iPad Air, is still on the affordable side, there is an even cheaper iPad model. If you prefer saving money over splurging on the latest tech, the Apple iPad (11th generation) gets the job done. It's the base model, meaning it won't have the fastest processor like the iPad Air's M3 chip or the latest features like Apple Intelligence. However, it is the most affordable Apple tablet. With the 2024 release of the iPad Air and iPad Pro models, this iPad's price dropped to $349 — a real steal for Apple. Even though its tech is basic compared to the advanced iPad Air and Pro, it's great for someone who wants a portable screen for streaming, playing games, and reading. It's also a nice choice if you're interested in using your tablet as a laptop, but don't want to spend a ton of money. It's compatible with the Magic Keyboard Folio and together costs $598 — the same price as the iPad Air.Plus, it's especially great for kids if you want to get them a tablet but don't want to spend a fortune on it. Why we like it The iPad (11th generation) doesn't possess the flair of the Pro or Air, but it is a testament that Apple can still produce good entry-level tech. It's currently the lowest-priced iPad, even defeating the Mini. The 2025 iPad model got a slight chip upgrade finally going from the A14 up to the A16. While that's not quite as impressive as the M-series of chips, it is quick and powerful. On the Geekbench 6 test, it scored 6,233, falling quite a bit lower than the iPad Air and Pro. However, it still scored higher than most premium Chromebooks so you can feel confident it can double as a workbook.It has a solid screen size of 10.9 inches, providing plenty of room for those who want to use it as a drawing pad or journal, since it is compatible with the Apple USB-C and Apple Pencil 1st generation.Overall, the iPad (11th generation) is a great entry-level tablet. It's best when working on a budget because if you're willing to spend a little more, the iPad Air is a better value. Details Processor: A16 chip Screen size: 10.9 inches Memory: 4GB Storage: 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB Battery life: 6 hours GET IT $349.00 Apple.com Apple iPad mini (7th generation) Best for reading $399.99 Amazon The Good & The Bad Compact size Fast processing Equipped with Apple Intelligence Now starts with 128GB of storage A17 chip is a generation behind Our review Read our full review of the iPad Mini. Who it's for Tablets are an incredibly versatile device, but we all have our go-to use. If you, like me, use your iPad to read, you gotta go for the iPad Mini. The other models like the iPad Air start at around 11 inches, which is a lot of screen when you just want to flip through your book.But the iPad Mini isn't just a glorified e-reader, it's still a versatile tablet. Like any iPad, you can read on it, but you can also stream your favorite shows — a level of flexibility that a Kindle simply can't match.So when should you avoid the iPad Mini? If you're after a tablet that can double as a laptop, this won't be for you. Eight inches might be plenty of room for reading or watching, but it's going to feel small when you want to flip between email and Slack. As Mashable's Stan Schroeder noted in his review, when up against his M1 MacBook Pro, the iPad Mini 7th generation didn't stand a chance. Plus, it's not compatible with Apple's Magic Keyboard, but you can connect a Bluetooth keyboard in a pinch. Why we like it The iPad Mini got a 2024 upgrade, and is now equipped with the A17 chip but with the same 5-core GPU and 6-core CPU. Along with the chip upgrade comes Apple Intelligence, an especially helpful feature if you plan to use it for reading as it can summarize articles.It's more advanced in some ways than the iPad 11th generation. But on the flip side, it's missing key features like a landscape view camera and Magic Keyboard compatibility. When we calculate all that, it's clear that the iPad Mini is a great tablet, while the rest of the iPads in Apple's line-ups are capable of being great tablets and laptops.Above all, I love the iPad Mini for reading. Previously, I read with my iPad 9th Generation, which works fine but is just too big. When I'm in bed reading, my wrist feels strained with a standard-sized iPad. So when I switched to using the iPad Mini, I was delighted by its light weight; it weighs just over half a pound. At 8.3 inches it's about an inch and a half bigger than a Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition, but having used both, the hand feel is negligible.Plus, unlike the iPad 11th generation, it has an anti-reflective coating to help you read in any lighting. The iPad Mini, while great for reading, doesn't have the matte screen of other e-readers, which at night leads to some eye strain. If you want to give your iPad Mini the Kindle treatment, these Paperlike screen protectors add some nice friction to the screen so you feel like you're reading and writing on paper.The iPad Mini's smaller size also makes it a better option for traveling. It will take up less space and weight in your bag than any other iPad on this list. Despite being smaller than the iPad 11th generation, it costs more. So what are you paying for? Slightly more advanced tech, the convenience of portability, and a better reading experience. Details Processor: A17 chip Screen size: 8.3 inches Memory: 4GB Storage: 125GB, 256GB, or 512GB Battery life: 10 hours GET IT Related Stories

Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech Deals Intel’s Spring Gaming Bundle On Amazon Slashes 33 Percent From The Incredibly Powerful Core Ultra 7 265K Desktop Processor, Now Available For A New Low $269.99 Omar Sohail • May 17, 2025 at 07:17am EDT AMD might have surpassed Intel as the preferred brand for gaming desktop processors thanks to its ‘X3D’ range of CPUs, but with just enough of a discount, we believe that you can find a place in your heart for team blue once more. On Amazon, Intel’s Spring Gaming Bundle is live, and you can avail tons of offers on a variety of products, ranging from desktop CPUs, work laptops, gaming laptops, mini PCs, AIOs, and more. While doing our usual hunting around, our eyes immediately caught the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K. The high-end CPU is currently listed at 33 percent off, or a $135 discount on the online retailer, bringing its price down to $269.99. As numerous benchmarks would suggest, the Core Ultra 7 265K is not faster than AMD’s Ryzen 7 9800X3D, but at its updated price, it was never meant to compete with these chips, but provide consumers and creative professionals a more affordable alternative. You can simply save the money you would have otherwise invested in the Ryzen 7 9800X3D and repurpose that sum in a capable graphics card or any other component. The Intel Core Ultra 7 265K sports a 20-core hybrid architecture, with eight performance and 12 efficiency cores, and its clock speeds can reach up to 5.50GHz with the right amount of cooling. You get a decent 36MB of L3 cache, plus support for PCIe NVMe Gen 5 SSDs. Both gamers and creative professionals can leverage the extra core count for a number of applications, and only then will you start to notice the value of that 33 percent discount. We cannot confirm when Intel’s Spring Gaming Bundle will end, but you should be on top of this deal right away. Get the Intel Core Ultra 7 265K desktop CPU from Amazon - $269.99 (33 percent off) See more products from Intel’s Spring Gaming Bundle here See the latest technology deals that Amazon has discounted today See what else Amazon has discounted today Deal of the Day Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Nightreign is right around the corner, but it seems we'll be getting a different kind of opportunity to visit Elden Ring's Lands Between with a movie in the worksTech10:00, 17 May 2025This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn moreWe could be getting an Elden Ring movieElden Ring is one of the best games of the last few years, expertly weaving FromSoft's challenging combat and flexible character customisation into an open world full of secrets.While Nightreign is on the horizon, rumours have circulated about a potential Elden Ring movie adaptation. The game, which is set in a universe built by both famed director Hidetaka Miyazaki and Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin, could see a new cinematic project if reports are anything to go by.We've rounded up all we've heard about the project, including the director reportedly leading the chase–and it may surprise you.Expect some pretty messed up creaturesSpeaking with IGN earlier this year, Martin said: "Well, I can't say too much about it, but there is some talk about making a movie out of Elden Ring,” while also acknowledging he's still trying to finish the next A Song of Fire and Ice Book that Game of Thrones was based on.“We'll see if that [the Elden Ring movie] comes to pass and what the extent of my involvement was, I don't know,” he said at the time.“I'm a few years behind with my latest book, so that also limits the amount of things that I can do.”That was in February, and things had gone quiet since then until one site, Nexus Point News, reported that Hollywood director Alex Garland was attached to the movie for A24.Content cannot be displayed without consentThat report was then removed, leading some to ponder its veracity, but longtime Hollywood insider Jeff Sneider published in his newsletter that Alex Garland is indeed looking likely to direct.Given Garland has worked on the 2013 Devil May Cry reboot and 2010's Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, in between racking up huge critical successes across Ex Machina, Warfare, and Annihilation, he's certainly got an understanding of video games and what it takes to make a great movie.The project is reportedly the most expensive movie A24 has produced, and will surpass Garland's Civil War in terms of budget.The studio is also responsible for horror movies like Hereditary, Talk To Me, and Heretic, which is handy given how creepy some of Elden Ring's vibes can be.Article continues belowWe'll naturally keep an eye out for more details, and it seems the deal for Garland isn't done just yet. Still, the idea of a new adventure in The Lands Between is certainly exciting.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.‌

What we've been playing - wiping an old save, old memories made new, and small mazes A few of the things that have us hooked this week. Image credit: Eurogamer / Bethesda Feature by Robert Purchese Associate Editor Additional contributions by Ian Higton, and Marie Pritchard Published on May 17, 2025 17th May Hello and welcome back to our regular feature where we write a little bit about some of the games we've been playing. This week, Bertie returns to Oblivion after nearly 20 years; Marie plucks up the courage to wipe an Animal Crossing save 300 hours in the making; and Donlan - who's back with us for a week - finds an ingenious little game about mazes. What have you been playing? Catch up with the older editions of this column in our What We've Been Playing archive. The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered, PS5 To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Oblivion now and Oblivion then. Oblivithen.Watch on YouTube What is it about remaking games from our past that is so appealing? I question this a lot when another remake whirls around, Oblivion being the latest of them. I loved that game; is love the right word? I played it a lot. It means a lot to me. But I don't believe it was devoid of problems. There's only so many caves one can explore. Regardless, back around Oblivion has come, and I've been questioning why. But at the same time I've been excited about it. I thought a lot about returning to Oblivion in the past. Perhaps it was something to do with having already spent the effort to learn the game and get competent with it, or because I wanted to be back in that sunny fantasy world. Whatever the reason, I've been putting it off because Oblivion looked old. Now, though, it isn't. Oblivion is new again. So far, I'm really impressed. I've only played the opening part (check out my amazingly cool character in the headline image above) in the prison and sewers and up to the iconic 'Oblivion moment', as you emerge into the wider world, and technologically speaking it's great. It's smooth and handsome - it takes me back to the first time I explored the game and wowed by how nice it looked. It's like playing the Oblivion of my memory. I hope it lasts; I've been told it doesn't. Digital Foundry's Tom Morgan was telling me the performance is abysmal as you get out into the world proper. But for now, it's fine and I get it - I get the desire to return to places we've been. -Bertie Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Switch Ian and Aoife show off their Animal Crossing islands.Watch on YouTube I deleted my almost 300-hundred hour Island that I'd curated during Lockdown. Instant regret washed over me as I looked at my (new) basic Island with nothing on it except a few villagers and Tom Nook explaining another money-making scheme to take my Bells again. But all those hours experimenting with different Island formations and spending a copious amount of time in the Island Designer app creating interwoven rivers, ponds, waterfalls, cliffs had not been wasted, as I'd first feared. My last Island had been the perfect test run for creating my vision this time around; and that's when it occurred to me that starting again was the best idea I'd had yet. Sure, I do miss having all of the services and places unlocked (like Harv's Island) whenever I want to use them, but being able to start fresh has allowed me to think more about where I want to place everything. Currently, Nook's Cranny has just upgraded again and the Able Sisters have finally opened their shop, so now I'm considering where to permanently move them.. Not only that but I'm thinking more strategically about how I use my Bells based on my previous experience. I won't waste so many Bells repeatedly moving the villager houses into different formations until I find one I like. I'll take my time to consider each move carefully first. Starting again has also given me more opportunities to think about how I want the rest of the island to look. Do I want to create a lush forest-themed Island filled with plants? Do I want to create a town reminiscent of a seaside paradise?Perhaps I could even make both by splitting the Island in two! Oh and for the record, my last island became a disorganised mess that r didn't have any character or l feel to it.t felt like what it was: a test run for ideas which didn't work out. What I initially worried was a terrible judgement call, then, became the best in-game choice I'd made in a long time. It's made me fall in love with Animal Crossing all over again. -Marie 20 Small Mazes, PC Small Mazes by Fleb.Watch on YouTube 20 Small Mazes is one of those games that feels like a gift. It is a gift, of course, because it's literally free, but it's also a gift because it's wildly generous. A bunch of mazes arranged like papers on a desk for you to sift through and enjoy, and an approach to mazes that even extends to the start menu. Every now and then I remember 20 Small Mazes exists and I head back in. Today I spent two minutes playing an ingenious maze in which I moved between three overlapping mazes of different colours, all with slightly different arrangements of paths. The idea is to go as far as you can in one colour, switch, and then keep going. There's probably a whole game in this - it feels like the kind of thing WayForward was cranking on in games like Mighty Flip Champs! But here it is, and it's free, and it's a perfect little thing that contains so much ingenuity. -Donlan

Warning: contains spoilers for Doctor Who episode “The Interstellar Song Contest” The Doctor and Belinda find themselves on Harmony Arena during the 803rd Interstellar Song Contest. But an evening of camp cosmic fun becomes a nightmare when horned aliens take over the space station – and the Doctor starts having strange visions. Spoilers ahoy. With “The Interstellar Song Contest”, Doctor Who might have given us its most blatantly self-selecting episode ever. When you hear the description ‘episode set during the Interstellar Song Contest featuring Rylan as himself’, you probably already know, broadly, whether it’s going to gel with your sensibilities. This puts a reviewer in a somewhat tricky position. I try as much as possible to take every episode on its own terms, and I’m very much of the view that Doctor Who contains more multitudes than most TV series, so there is always a place in the show for big, silly, populist spectacle. That being said, this is probably the episode I was looking forward to the least this season. I have no affection for the Eurovision Song Contest, especially in recent years. And while Rylan and Graham Norton admittedly acquit themselves pretty well here, as with the first Russell T Davies era, the showrunner’s enthusiastic engagement with contemporary TV and British celebrity culture can feel awkward, even slightly cringeworthy. Not only does it instantly date things, but it actually makes it harder to suspend disbelief and engage with the stories – having the likes of Davina McCall doing their familiar schtick puts the show that much closer to our reality, which I find just makes me ask questions I don’t want to be asking. All that being said, the idea of Rylan being frozen in stasis and unfrozen every year to host the Interstellar Song Contest is… kind of delightful. So, in conclusion, “The Interstellar Song Contest” is a land of contrasts. Actually, Bart Simpson’s immortal line has rarely felt more apropos. There is a lot going on here, arguably too much. Writer Juno Dawson has said that Davies pitched the concept as ‘Eurovision meets Die Hard’, with disaster movie elements, and the episode broadly fulfils that brief – it’s a perfectly workable concept, and if it had simply been allowed to be that, it might have hung together more cohesively. Ironically enough, the Eurovision / Rylan parts of the episode broadly work. It’s some of the other elements that unbalance proceedings, and while it’s pointless to speculate about which ideas were Dawson’s and which were imposed by upper management, it’s hard to believe that a guest writer would have been allowed to independently include the first appearance of Carol Anne Ford as Susan Foreman in proper mainline continuity televised Doctor Who since 1983. The Doctor’s sudden, unexplained visions of his long lost granddaughter are an absolutely huge curveball to throw into the episode, and they immediately suck all the oxygen out of the room. For viewers who know the significance of the character – and the actress, one of the last surviving links to the program’s very first episode, more than half a century go – it’s likely going to be a massive distraction. Why is this suddenly happening, where is she, when will they reunite, and oh yeah, why hasn’t the Doctor ever gone back for her (a continuity scab probably best left unpicked)? Meanwhile, viewers who aren’t familiar with Susan, even accounting for last season’s oblique mentions, are probably just thinking… huh? Presumably she’s going to feature in the two-part finale in some way – her appearance here will be even more confusing if not – but it feels like kind of an unfair requirement to foist on what should be the fun romp before the season’s concluding fireworks. The other big aspect of the episode that feels jarring is the Doctor’s rage. We’ve seen the character in vengeful mode before, punishing characters in far more baroque and existentially terrifying ways for comparatively less serious crimes. But not only does the Hellions’ plan feel like a gratuitous raising of the stakes that isn’t really earned – surely saving the one hundred thousand people floating in space would have been sufficient – the episode doesn’t really map out a solid trajectory for the Doctor to arrive at the point where he’s enthusiastically torturing Kid. We know it’s not because he thinks Belinda is dead – he’s aware that the people in space can theoretically be saved. Later he awkwardly describes being “triggered” because of the genocide of his own people, which just makes you wonder why trying to kill three trillion people wasn’t bad enough on its own, without the personal associations. The “ice in my heart” line is nice on paper, and delivered with appropriate contempt by Ncuti Gatwa, but it kind of implies that the Doctor is angry because he ended up briefly frozen in space himself, which feels weirdly petty. And the “I think it’ll be there forever now” at the end just feels bizarre. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! There’s also the issue that Kid has precious little juice as a villain. It’s unfortunate, as Freddie Fox has shown in Slow Horses that he can play a deliciously hissable piece of garbage, but the character isn’t threatening enough to be an effective antagonist and his plan is too psychotically over-the-top for us to feel any real sympathy for his plight. It ends up feeling like a waste of a huge dramatic move – one the show can’t exactly pull regularly – to have the Doctor’s uncontrollable rage unleashed on some random sneering emo, and it then feels jarring for the episode to flip almost instantly back into romp mode with the peppy rescue montage. It also contributes to the feeling that the episode can’t settle on a consistent tone – like the moment where Belinda and Cora are interrupted by the Dugga Doo alien. In theory it’s a fun black comedy beat to puncture the tension, and the kind of thing you should definitely do in an episode called “The Interstellar Song Contest”. But then, after the amusing “where’s that” exchange, Belinda has a tearful emotional moment with Cora, and the score swells, and clearly we’re supposed to now be taking things seriously again, but the Dugga Doo alien is still audibly singing in the background. It’s a comparatively small thing, but it adds to the feeling that the production doesn’t have enough control over the tone. There are bright spots, of course. Gary and Mike are very likeable everyman characters – it’s fun that they’re both instantly smitten with the Doctor, and that they both find it unexpectedly sexy seeing each other being competent at their jobs. The songs could generally stand to be a lot weirder and more alien, but Cora’s final ballad is soaring enough to land the final emotional beat (although the presumably accidental subtext that this is the only legitimate way for an oppressed people to make their voices heard is a tad awkward). The still, silent shot of all the bodies floating in space above the station is incredibly arresting. The Doctor and Belinda bonding over Eurovision is cute, even if it feels like the third episode in a row where Varada Sethu doesn’t get a massive amount to do. The Doctor flying through space propelled by a confetti cannon is just the kind of camp excess this sort of episode needs. And of course, there’s the ending, which leads directly into the first part of the finale. The TARDIS lights going red, combined with the portentous tolling of the Cloister Bell, is more than enough to sell the mavity of the situation – arguably more so than Mrs Flood stage whispering about Vindicators – and the doors being blown inward is an appropriately fiery full stop. Onward to “Wish World”. I love a good show. Grape? Doctor Who continues with “Wish World” on Saturday May 24th on BBC iPlayer and BBC One in the UK, and on Disney+ around the world.

See the First Visible Auroras Captured on Mars, Glowing a Hazy Green Above the Planet Scientists directed NASA’s Perseverance rover to take an image of the Martian sky after a solar storm in hopes that an aurora would show up Lillian Ali - Staff Contributor May 16, 2025 1:19 p.m. The first image in visible light of green auroras on Mars (left), compared to the night sky of Mars without auroras. NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU / MSSS / SSI On March 18, 2024, NASA’s Perseverance rover, which usually examines rocks on Mars’ surface, tilted its camera upward. The planet’s entire sky glowed a soft green, and the rover snapped an image of the moment—capturing the first visually observed aurora on Mars. The photograph is the result of several years of planning, waiting and retrying to grab this shot. Researchers led by Elise Wright Knutsen, an atmospheric physicist at the University of Oslo, waited for the right conditions and commanded Perseverance to look up at exactly the right time. They reported their feat in a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. “It took three unsuccessful attempts before we got it right, but when we did, it appeared exactly as we imagined it; as a diffuse green haze, uniform in all directions,” Knutsen tells Gizmodo’s Passant Rabie.Auroras can occur following a solar storm, when the sun suddenly blasts charged particles, energy and magnetic fields into the solar system. These particles can collide with gases in a planet’s atmosphere, energizing them and causing their atoms to emit light in different colors. On Earth, the charged particles from the sun are guided to the poles by the magnetic field, leading to the northern and southern lights. Mars does not have a global magnetic field, “so the charged particles bombarded all of Mars at the same time, which leads to this planet-wide aurora,” Knutsen tells Reuters’ Will Dunham. The Martian atmosphere is much thinner than Earth’s, and it doesn’t have as many gas atoms that could light up in an aurora. But Mars has atomic oxygen, and oxygen on Earth causes a green glow. So, astronomers thought its sky would appear green after a solar storm, although the hue would be fainter and harder to capture than auroras on Earth. Historically, Mars’ auroras have only been observed by orbiting spacecraft in ultraviolet light, which is not visible to the naked eye. An aurora seen from Abisko, Sweden, glows green due to emissions from atmospheric oxygen. Pavel.shyshkouski via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 Perseverance’s photo surprised some scientists, who had anticipated an image of an aurora to come from a spacecraft instead. “I didn’t really expect it to be seen by one of the rovers,” planetary astronomer James O’Donoghue of the University of Reading in England, who was not involved in the study, tells the New York Times’ Perseverance’s mission is to sample rocks that may contain evidence of ancient microbial life, like “Cheyava Falls,” a rock discovered last year that scientists say bears a potential biosignature. To observe an aurora, researchers applied the rover’s rock-studying instruments to the sky. One of its cameras, Mastcam-Z, could spot green lights. An instrument called SuperCam would chemically analyze whatever was emitting that green light, potentially identifying an aurora. To get their photo, researchers had to accurately forecast the aurora by observing the sun, studying the Martian atmosphere and perfectly timing Perseverance’s movements. After several months, during a period of solar hyperactivity, Knutsen’s team found exactly the right moment. “It was so satisfying,” Knutsen tells the New York Times. NASA's Perseverance rover took this "selfie" on July 23, 2024, with a rock nicknamed "Cheyava Falls." NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS Perseverance’s instruments determined the aurora emitted light with a wavelength of 557.7 nanometers—a green glow that’s visible to the human eye—which told astronomers the source was oxygen. Data from NASA’s orbiting MAVEN mission confirmed the light came from an aurora caused by solar energetic particles. Capturing an aurora on Mars opens new methods of studying the planet’s atmosphere and weather. It also shows how scientists can continue to track solar activity, which is especially relevant as a solar flare caused radio blackouts internationally this week. For now, though, Knutsen’s team gets to celebrate capturing the first visible Martian aurora. She tells the New York Times about being one of the first people to see “a black horizon and a softly glowing green sky” on Mars, saying, “I cried a little bit.” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

When I lived in Florida, I had a neighbor named Ms. Carmen. She was in her late 70s, fiercely independent, and lived alone with her two dogs and one cat, which were her closest companions. Each hurricane season, she would anxiously ask if I would check on her when the winds began to pick up. She once told me: “I’m more afraid of being forgotten than of the storm itself.” Her fear wasn’t just about the weather; it was about facing it alone. When hurricanes hit, we often measure the damage in downed power lines, flooded roads, and wind-torn homes. But some of the most serious consequences are harder to see, especially for older adults who may struggle with mobility, chronic health problems, and cognitive decline. Emergency preparedness plans too often overlook the specific needs of elders in America’s aging population, many of whom live alone. For people like Ms. Carmen, resilience needs to start long before the storm. The number of older adults in the U.S. and the percentage of the population age 65 and older have been rising. [Image: US Census Bureau] I study disaster preparations and response. To prepare for hurricane season, and any other disaster, I encourage families to work with their older adults now to create an emergency plan. Preparing can help ensure that older adults will be safe and able to contact relatives or others for help, and will have the medications, documents and supplies they need, as well as the peace of mind of knowing what steps to take. Recent hurricanes show the gaps In 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton put a spotlight on the risks to older adults. The storms forced thousands of people to evacuate, often to shelters with little more than food supplies and mattresses on the floor, and ill-equipped for medical needs. Flooding isolated many rural homes, stranding older adults. Power was out for weeks in some areas. Emergency systems were overwhelmed. A tornado tore into a senior community in Port St. Lucie, Florida, during Milton, killing six people. Some long-term care facilities lost power and water during Helene. At the same time, some older adults chose to stay in homes in harm’s way for fear that they would be separated from their pets or that their homes would be vandalized. These events are not just tragic; they are predictable. Many older adults cannot evacuate without assistance, and many evacuation centers aren’t prepared to handle their needs. How to prepare: 5 key steps Helping older adults prepare for emergencies should involve the entire family so everyone knows what to expect. The best plans are personal, practical, and proactive, but they will contain some common elements. Here are five important steps: 1. Prepare an emergency folder with important documents. Disasters can leave older adults without essential information and supplies that they need, such as prescription lists, financial records, medical devices and—importantly—contact information to reach family, friends, and neighbors who could help them. Many older adults rely on preprogrammed phone numbers. If their phone is lost or the battery dies, they may not know how to reach friends or loved ones, so it’s useful to have a hard copy of phone numbers. Consider encouraging the use of medical ID bracelets or cards for those with memory loss. Hurricane season begins June 1. Don’t wait until it’s too late.To prepare ahead you can develop an evacuation plan, assemble a disaster supply kit, create a communications plan and more.For more hurricane preparedness tips, visit: https://t.co/gG4ogHLnOg pic.twitter.com/Wukb1C1CUt— Polk Emergency Mgmt (@polkemergency) May 6, 2025 Critical documents like wills, home deeds, powers of attorney, and insurance records are frequently kept in physical form and may be forgotten or lost in a sudden evacuation. Use waterproof storage that’s easy to carry, and share copies with trusted caregivers and family members in case those documents are lost. 2. Have backup medications and equipment. Think about that person’s assistive devices and health needs. Having extra batteries on hand is important, as is remembering to bring chargers and personal mobility aids, such as walkers, canes, mobility scooters, or wheelchairs. Do not forget that service animals support mobility, so having supplies of their food will be important during a hurricane or evacuation. Ask doctors to provide an emergency set of medications in case supplies run low in a disaster. If the person is staying in their home, prepare for at least 72 hours of self-sufficiency in case the power goes out. That means having enough bottled water, extra pet food, and human food that doesn’t need refrigeration or cooking. 3. Map evacuation routes and shelter options. Identify nearby shelters that will likely be able to support older adults’ mobility and cognitive challenges. If the person has pets, make a plan for them, too—many areas will have at least one pet-friendly shelter, but not all shelters will take pets. Figure out how the person will get to a shelter, and have a backup plan in case their usual transportation isn’t an option. And decide where they will go and how they will get there if they can’t return home after a storm. If your loved one lives in a care facility, ask to see that facility’s hurricane plan. 4. Create a multiperson check-in system. Don’t rely on just one caregiver or family member to check on older adults. Involve neighbors, faith communities, or local services such as home-delivered meals, transportation assistance, support groups, and senior centers. Redundancy is crucial when systems break down. 5. Practice the plan. Go through evacuation steps in advance so everyone knows what to do. Executing the plan should be second nature, not a scramble during a disaster or crisis. Planning with, not just for, older adults Emergency planning isn’t something done for older adults—it’s something done with them. Elders bring not only vulnerability but also wisdom. Their preferences and autonomy will have to guide decisions for the plan to be successful in a crisis. That means listening to their needs, honoring their independence, and making sure caregivers have realistic plans in place. It’s an important shift from just reacting to a storm to preparing with purpose. Lee Ann Rawlins Williams is a clinical assistant professor of education, health and behavior studies at the University of North Dakota. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

PROTOTYPE - this is an old prototype from 2023. We have been working on an official steam release Check out the Steam Page here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3493400/BLOODLETTER/ Game Loop You start the game in your bathhouse. Villagers queue up to be treated by the cards you play for them. After treatment is finished, the book opens and you choose a villager who helps you in return with their unique abilities. They will also give you a new Card for your Deck. The day is done and during the night the Entity becomes active, sullying the villagers Purity and spreading sickness. A new day dawns with villagers queueing up once again and the cycle continues. The game ends if the Entity kills the fourth villager or you fill the Villager's collective Purity for the fourth time, defeating the Entity. You (Player)  In Bloodletter your main possible action is playing Cards. You use your cursor to pick one Card at a time and drag and drop it onto one of the Card Slots. Click the Bell to call in the next Villager. As soon as you are finished with the current villager you can ring the Bell to get the next one. Villager Abilities   The Villagers also have unique abilities. These improve your deck or help you in treating the villagers. Per evening you can choose one Villagers Ability by clicking on it. New Cards In addition they offer you three new Cards of which you can choose one to add to your deck. Blessing Cards   There are three unique Blessing Cards. You are dealt one of these Cards if one of your Villagers health reaches 100. Blessing Cards have exclusively positive effects. Curse Cards  There are three unique Curse Cards. You are dealt one of these Cards if a Villager dies or possibly when you hit one of the Entity Trigger Points. Curse Cards have exclusively negative effects. Entity  The Statue on your Desk houses the Entity. It’s your Opponent and sullies your Villagers Purity during the night as well as spread Sicknesses that lower their Health. Above the Entity hangs a vial containing the All Purity of living Villagers. Filling the vial up to the next Trigger Point damages the Entity. By damaging the Entity you extract a Bloodstone and it’s moved to one of the Bloodstone Sockets. The Team ALDAMAMI This prototype was part of our second semester at DE:HIVE Berlin.

Menu Home News Hardware Gaming Mobile Finance Deals Reviews How To Wccftech Mobile Apple Vision Pro Owners Are Expressing Immense Buyer’s Remorse Over Spending A Massive Sum On A Headset And Still Experiencing Comfort Issues, Along With Other Problems Omar Sohail • May 17, 2025 at 02:02am EDT The $3,499 starting price of the Apple Vision Pro could have been worth it for a handful of customers if it did not ship with a plethora of problems, other than the ludicrous sum of money that needed to be paid to become the owner of one. With the passage of time, the company has introduced more features under the visionOS umbrella, but that does not change the fact that the poor impressions will retain an everlasting image and will probably play a paramount role whenever the next headset launches. As for those who currently own an Apple Vision Pro, a new report states that they are regretting their purchase, and it is not just because they had to fork over massive amounts of money. Those already owning the Apple Vision Pro also had trouble reselling it due to the lack of demand Based on a previous estimate, the Apple Vision Pro garnered less than 500,000 shipments, with a paywalled report from The Wall Street Journal spotted by MacRumors talking about how they are experiencing buyer’s remorse. Even if owners could get around the fact that they paid a minimum of $3,499 for the head-mounted wearable, there are other areas where the Apple Vision Pro fell way below expectations. For instance, it was not comfortable to wear for extended periods due to its sheer weight. At 600 to 650 grams, the Apple Vision Pro is much heavier than competing headsets, and can introduce fatigue after wearing the headset for an hour, which does not translate into a positive user experience. Tovia Goldstein, a 24-year-old based in New York City, says that viewing content became limited due to the lack of expanded app ecosystem coupled with the discomfort that the Apple Vision Pro brought to the table. Other complaints include the lengthy startup time to access the visionOS App Store and waiting for a few minutes to use the device after the external battery puck has been connected. Last year, TF International Securities Ming-Chi Kuo stated that the starting price was not going to be the only deterrent that prevented the Apple Vision Pro’s success, and this element would also prevent the low-cost version from picking up steam. He mentions that limited use cases paired with the lack of apps will increase the return rate of the Cupertino giant’s headsets. The latest report also dives into the resale value of the Apple Vision Pro, which is considerably worse than the company’s other products. Anthony Racaniello, a media studio operator from Philadelphia, had sold his headset for $1,900, absorbing a 46 percent loss, but he says that he did not miss the product. You can check out the detailed report by clicking on the source link below to find out more about why Apple Vision Pro owners are regretting their purchase. News Source: The Wall Street Journal Deal of the Day Subscribe to get an everyday digest of the latest technology news in your inbox Follow us on Topics Sections Company Some posts on wccftech.com may contain affiliate links. We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com © 2025 WCCF TECH INC. 700 - 401 West Georgia Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Earlier this year, Nvidia announced its new line of 50 Series GPUs with a hot new feature in tow: "Multi Frame Generation." Building on early frame gen tech, these new GPUs allow games to create multiple video frames based on a single frame rendered the normal way. But is that a good thing? Or are these just "fake frames?" Well, it's complicated.On a very basic level, "frame generation" refers to the technique of using deep learning AI models to generate frames in between two frames of a game rendered by the GPU. Your graphics card does the more grindy work of creating "Frame One" and "Frame Three" based on 3D models, lighting, textures, etc., but then frame generation tools take those two images and make a guess at what "Frame Two" should look like.Multi Frame Generation takes this a step further. Instead of just generating one extra frame, it generates several. This means that, on the highest settings, three out of every four frames you see could be generated, rather than rendered directly. Whether that's a good thing, though, depends heavily on what type of game you play and what you want your gaming experience to be.What's the difference between upscaling and frame generation?Nvidia's new Multi Frame Generation comes as part of its announcement of DLSS 4. DLSS stands for Deep Learning Super Sampling and, as the name implies, its earlier iterations weren't about frame generation, but rather supersampling (or upscaling). In this version of the tech, a GPU would render a lower-resolution version of a frame—say, 1080p—and then upscale it to a higher resolution like 1440p or 2160p (4K). The "deep learning" in DLSS refers to training a machine learning model on each game individually to give the upscaler a better idea of what the higher res frame should look like.Nowadays, DLSS refers more to a whole suite of tools Nvidia uses to eek out better performance, and the above method is usually referred to as Super Resolution. Frame generation, on the other hand, takes two entire frames and generates an entirely new frame between them from scratch.Of course, it's also possible to use all of this tech simultaneously. You can end up in situations where your GPU is technically only rendering one lower-resolution frame for every two—or more, on the newest GPUs—full-res frames you see. If that sounds like a lot of extrapolation, well, it is. And, incredibly, it works pretty well. Most of the time.When is frame generation useful?In a relatively short amount of time, we've seen the demand placed on GPUs explode. As mentioned above, 4K resolutions contain quadruple the amount of pixel information as 1080p ones. Moreover, while media like movies and TV have stuck at a relatively consistent 24-30 frames per second, gamers increasingly demand at least 60fps as a baseline, often pushing that even higher to 120fps or 240fps for high-end machines. And do not get me started on Samsung's absurd display capable of supporting up to 500fps.If your GPU had to calculate every pixel of a 4K image 120 (or 500) times every second, the resulting fire coming from your PC would be visible from space—at least for games with the kind of detailed, ray-traced graphics we're used to from AAA titles. From that perspective, frame generation isn't just helpful, it's necessary. On Nvidia's latest GPUs, Multi Frame Generation can allow a game to increase its frame rate by multiple hundred frames per second even in 4K, while still looking pretty great. That's just not a frame rate that's possible at that resolution without an industrial rig.When it works (and we'll come back to that), frame generation can allow for smoother movement and less eye strain. If you want to get a taste of the difference, this little tool lets you experiment with different frame rates (as long as your display supports it). Try comparing 30fps to 60fps or 120fps and follow each ball with your eyes. The effect gets even more stark if you turn off motion blur which, for many games, would be the default.For chaotic games with a lot of movement, those extra frames can be a huge benefit, even if they're not exactly perfect. If you were to take a close look at the images frame-by-frame, you might see some artifacts, but they might be less noticeable while playing—at least, that's how it should work in theory.What are the downsides of frame generation?In practice, how well this tech works can vary greatly on a per-game basis, as well as by how powerful your machine is. For example, going from 30fps to 60fps with frame generation can look jankier than if you're going from 60fps to 120fps. This is due, at least in part, to the fact that at lower frame rates, there's more time in between reference frames, which means more guess work for the frames being generated. That leads to more noise and artifacts.Whether those artifacts will bother you is also highly subjective. For example, if you're swinging through the city in Spider-Man 2, and the trees in the background look stranger than they should, would you even notice? On the other hand, for slower-paced atmospheric games like Alan Wake II, where graphical detail and set design is more important for the vibes, ghosting and smearing can seem more pronounced.It should also be noted that artifacts aren't necessarily inherent to all frame generation. For starters, better input frames can lead to better frame generation. Nvidia, for example, is touting new models behind Super Resolution and Ray Reconstruction—a whole other piece of tech for improving ray tracing results that we simply don't have enough time to get into—to improve the images that get passed to the frame generation portion of the pipeline.You can think of it a bit like a giant, complex version of a game of telephone. The only way to get the most accurate, detailed frames from your game is to render them directly. The more you add steps to extrapolate extra pixels and frames, the more chances there are for mistakes. However, our tools are getting progressively better at cutting down on those mistakes. So, it's up to you to decide whether more frames or more detail is worth it for you.Why frame generation is (probably) bad for competitive gamesThere's one major exception to this whole argument, and that's when it comes to competitive games. If you play online games like Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals, or Fortnite, then smooth motion isn't necessarily your primary concern. You might be more concerned with latency—which is to say, the delay between when you react to something, and when your game has registered your reaction.Frame generation complicates latency issues because it requires creating frames out of order. Recall our earlier example: The GPU generates Frame One, then Frame Three, then the frame generator comes up with what Frame Two should be. In that scenario, the game can't actually show you Frame Two until it's figured out what frame three should be.Now, in most cases this isn't usually a problem. At 120fps, each frame is only on screen for about 8.33 milliseconds. Your brain can't even register that short of a delay, so it's not likely to cause a huge issue. In fact, human reaction time is typically measured in the hundreds of milliseconds. For a completely unscientific proof, go ahead and try out this reaction time test. Let me know when you get under 10 milliseconds. I'll wait.However, this does become an issue in competitive gaming, because frame delays aren't the only latency issues you're dealing with. There's latency between your keyboard and your computer, between your computer and the server, and between the server and the other players. Most of those individual links in the chain might be pretty low, but they have to get synced up somewhere. That "somewhere" is in the game's tick rate. This is how often the game you're playing updates on the server. For example, Overwatch 2 has a tick rate of 64. That means that every second, the server updates what has happened in the game 64 times, or once every 15.63 milliseconds.That's just enough that if, say, your game shows you our rhetorical Frame One, where the enemy Cassidy is in your crosshairs, but hasn't yet updated to Frame Three, when he's not, the server could have ticked over before your screen has updated. That could mean your shot registers as a miss even though it feels like it should have hit. This is also the one issue that can actually get worse with Multi Frame Generation.There are ways to mitigate this hit—for example, Nvidia's Reflex tech that reduces input latency in other areas—but it's not something that can be avoided entirely. If you're playing competitive online games, you're better off turning your graphics settings down lower to get a better frame rate, rather than using frame generation for now.