Author I recently got intrigued by how certain online tools render terrain using dynamic color gradients to show depth or elevation changes, especially when visualizing geographical data or landscape layers on a 2D canvas. What caught my attention was how a color transition, say from green to brown to white, can subtly convey a mountain’s progression — and how much this alone can shape how we perceive space, depth, and realism without using any lighting or shadows. I’d love to dive deeper into the logic and techniques behind this and how it’s approached from a GPU programming perspective.One thing I started questioning is how effective and precise color-based elevation rendering is, especially when it comes to shader implementation. For instance, I observed that some tools use a simple gradient approach linked to altitude values, which works fine visually but might not reflect real-world depth unless tuned carefully. I tried assigning color ramps in fragment shaders, interpolated from DEM (digital elevation model) values, but it wasn’t quite as expressive as I expected — especially when transitioning over large terrain with small elevation variance.To simulate some form of perceptual realism, I began blending color ramps using noise functions to introduce a more organic transition, but I’m not confident this is the best way to approach it. I also played around with multi-step gradients, assigning different hue families per range (e.g., green under 500m, brown 500–1500m, grey and white above that), but it raises the question of universality — is there a standard or accepted practice for terrain color logic in shader design? Or should we just lean into stylized rendering if it communicates the structure effectively?Elevation itself refers to the height of a specific point on the Earth's surface relative to sea level. It’s a key component in any terrain rendering logic and often forms the foundation for visual differentiation of the landscape. When using an online elevation tool, the elevation values are typically mapped to colors or heightmaps to produce a more tangible view of the land’s shape. This numerical-to-visual translation plays a central role in how users interpret spatial data. I inspired from this idea positively because it proves that even raw altitude numbers can create an intuitive and informative visual experience.What I couldn’t figure out clearly is how people deal with the in-between areas — those subtle transitions where terrain rises or drops slowly — without making the result look blocky or washed out. I’ve attempted linear color interpolation based on normalized height values directly inside the fragment shader, and I’ve also experimented with stepping through fixed color zones. Both methods gave me somewhat predictable results, but neither satisfied the realism I was aiming for when zooming closer to the terrain.I also wonder about the performance side of this. If I rely on fragment shader-based rendering with multiple condition checks and interpolations, will that scale well on larger canvases or with more detailed elevation data? Or would pushing color values per-vertex and interpolating across fragments give a better balance of performance and detail? It’s not immediately clear to me which path is more commonly used or recommended.Another question I’ve been mulling over is whether a lookup table (LUT) would make more sense for GPU-side elevation rendering. If I store predefined biome and elevation color data in a LUT, is it practical to access and apply that in real-time shader logic? And if so, what’s the cleanest way to structure and query this LUT in a WebGL or GLSL environment?I’m looking to understand how others have approached this type of rendering, specifically when color is used to express terrain form based solely on elevation values. I’m especially curious about shader structure, transition smoothing methods, and how to avoid that “posterized” look when mapping heights to colors over wide areas. If you want to apply colors in the shader based on elevation, the standard approach would be to use a 1D texture as a lookup table. You then map elevation to texture coordinate in [0,1] and use that to sample the texture (which should use linear interpolation). You can do this per-vertex if you vertices are dense enough. This allows you to use arbitrarily complex gradients.However elevation-based coloring is not very flexible. It works for some situations but otherwise is not ideal. For more complicated and realistic colors there are two other options:Add Layers - e.g. you can have another texture for your terrain which alters color based on other properties like water depth or temperature, etc. This can be combined with the elevation-based coloring. This can be done in the shader but more layers result in slower rendering.Vertex colors - compute a color per-vertex on the CPU. This can use any approach to assign the colors. You pay a bit more memory but have a faster rendering. You may need more vertices to have fine details or if the terrain is steep.To make colors more diverse you can use other terrain attributes to affect the color:ElevationSlope (gradient magnitude) evaluated a certain scale.water depthclimate / biomefractal noiseI would have a 1D texture or gradient for each attribute and then blend them in some way. Use fractal noise to “dither” the results and break up banding artifacts.You also can combine colored terrain with texture variation. In my terrain system each vertex has a texture index from a texture array. I manually interpolate the textures from the 3 vertices of a triangle in the shader. Per-vertex texturing gives great flexibility, as I can have as many textures as slots in the texture array. To fully use such a system you need a way to assign textures based on material type (rock, dirt, grass, etc.). Slope-based texturing (e.g. slope 0-0.2 is grass, 0.2-0.4 is dirt, >0.4 is rock) is common but I use a much more complicated material system based on rock layers and erosion. I had a blog here but all the images got deleted:https://gamedev.net/blogs/entry/2284060-rock-layers-for-real-time-erosion-simulation/

Bill Gaitas Member Oct 25, 2017 4,119 As per the SteamOS 3.7 changelog that just hit, Valve updated the recovery image for the Steam Deck and now has steps on how to install SteamOS on the Legion Go, ROG Ally, any AMD handheld, apparently. Valve mentions that people can "test" SteamOS on these devices so I'm unsure if these images are ready for prime time. Steam Support :: SteamOS Recovery and Installation help.steampowered.com SteamOS 3.7 changelog Updated SteamOS webpage with FAQ and other info   Last edited: 10 minutes ago ASleepingMonkey The Fallen Oct 26, 2017 4,579 Iowa As someone who doesn't have a ROG or Legion but has played many hours on Steam Deck, does this basically give you a comparable experience to the Deck in terms of getting games downloaded, navigating Steam, etc etc? Is this a big step up?   PianoBlack Member May 24, 2018 7,519 United States Interesting, I guess you'd do it for the power management / some system QoL stuff like login? I'm not sure what I get when I can already use Steam big picture mode on Windows and it has the full "console" UI, except I can also switch to Game Pass or whatever else whenever I want.   MrCuddles Member Oct 28, 2017 691 PianoBlack said: Interesting, I guess you'd do it for the power management / some system QoL stuff like login? I'm not sure what I get when I can already use Steam big picture mode on Windows and it has the full "console" UI, except I can also switch to Game Pass or whatever else whenever I want. Click to expand... Click to shrink... The peace of mind of not using an OS developed by a company that's complicit in an ongoing genocide.   super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,672 MrCuddles said: The peace of mind of not using an OS developed by a company that's complicit in an ongoing genocide. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Also not having to worry about your gaming sessions getting interrupted by a system update.  jroc74 Member Oct 27, 2017 34,068 Welp.   neoak Member Oct 25, 2017 16,867 ASleepingMonkey said: As someone who doesn't have a ROG or Legion but has played many hours on Steam Deck, does this basically give you a comparable experience to the Deck in terms of getting games downloaded, navigating Steam, etc etc? Is this a big step up? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Yes, it's pretty close to it   SaintNicholas98 Member Oct 25, 2017 1,848 super-famicom said: Also not having to worry about your gaming sessions getting interrupted by a system update. Click to expand... Click to shrink... Or your games not booting because the OS decided it doesn't like the mouse you always use  KanjoBazooie ▲ Legend ▲ Avenger Oct 26, 2017 32,726 Chicago bye Microsoft   Maximo Member Oct 25, 2017 10,981 Bazzite is honestly still the better option.   Brot Member Oct 25, 2017 6,798 the edge Maximo said: Bazzite is honestly still the better option. Click to expand... Click to shrink... How so?   ELEGYELEGYELEGY Member Apr 16, 2025 59 Nice I'll try it at some point on my LeGo, but using windows on it isn't nearly as bad as its made out to be, so I'll just use the trusty SteamDeck instead   Tobor Died as he lived: wrong about Doritos Member Oct 25, 2017 34,076 Very close to letting us install on an AMD box. Which is interesting. Framework desktop with an official Steam OS would be awesome. I know you can do Bazzite, but I prefer official if possible.  super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,672 Brot said: How so? Click to expand... Click to shrink... You can do PC stuff on Bazzite (run Office style apps and any other app you'd use on a PC). Steam OS, at least on a Steam Deck, while it does have a desktop environment, is kinda limited in what you can really do. Also, Bazzite isn't the only Linux distro with a handheld mode. Nobara and CachyOS are also great choices. Bazzite and Nobara also have Lutris and Heroic Game Launcher installed by default, Cachy also has them available but you need to just install a gaming package (literally click on a couple things after the initial install).  maximumzero Member Oct 25, 2017 24,842 New Orleans, LA Hopefully someone gets this up and running on PCs.   Dinjoralo Member Oct 25, 2017 11,725 PianoBlack said: Interesting, I guess you'd do it for the power management / some system QoL stuff like login? I'm not sure what I get when I can already use Steam big picture mode on Windows and it has the full "console" UI, except I can also switch to Game Pass or whatever else whenever I want. Click to expand... Click to shrink... You don't need to fiddle with multiple apps that don't all work with controller to update the OS and drivers. You don't need to log in with the touch screen when it reboots. Everything with Big Picture works more smoothly and reliably. Maybe better battery life with less background junk running. Because Fuck Microsoft.  super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,672 maximumzero said: Hopefully someone gets this up and running on PCs. Click to expand... Click to shrink... See my post above yours. You don't have to wait; there are already Linux distros that have a focus on gaming, while also providing everything else a PC operating system usually offers (Steam OS is based on Arch Linux).  Jakartalado Member Oct 27, 2017 2,781 São Paulo, Brazil super-famicom said: See my post above yours. You don't have to wait; there are already Linux distros that have a focus on gaming, while also providing everything else a PC operating system usually offers (Steam OS is based on Arch Linux). Click to expand... Click to shrink... Pretty sure (based on statistics) he wants that for non-AMD hardware. I would LOVE to have a portable system with Ryzen + Nvidia....  super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,672 Jakartalado said: Pretty sure (based on statistics) he wants that for non-AMD hardware. I would LOVE to have a portable system with Ryzen + Nvidia.... Click to expand... Click to shrink... You can run any of the distros I mentioned with Nvidia cards, though. I have a 5080 and used Nobara before settling on Cachy. And MSI Claw is a portable system that is all Intel. People are using Bazzite and Cachy on that too. But yeah, there's no portable system that has Nvidia tech iirc.  Mocha Joe Member Jun 2, 2021 13,430 Excellent. More OS alternatives the better, fuck Microsoft   Millstone Member Feb 17, 2025 450 EY YO INSTALLING THIS ON MY LEGION GO TONIGHT How easy is it to play non steam games now? Still need to dual boot?  ragolliangatan Legendary Uncle Works at Nintendo Member Aug 31, 2019 6,370 can't seem to find the steam os image from their link- was gonna set it up on my rog ally   super-famicom Avenger Oct 26, 2017 30,672 Millstone said: EY YO INSTALLING THIS ON MY LEGION GO TONIGHT How easy is it to play non steam games now? Still need to dual boot? Click to expand... Click to shrink... Heroic Launcher and Lutris can take care of a lot of non-Steam games 

Having the very latest and newest tech is great, of course, but sometimes the best buys are the previous-gen devices that cost significantly less but are still top performers. Cast in point: the 11th Gen Apple iPad, which has more than enough of the latest perks while dipping under the $300 mark for the first time. This 11-inch tablet has the A16 Bionic chip driving the action, and before you dismiss it for not being one of Apple’s vaunted M4 or M3 chips, the A16 Bionic chip is the same powerful brain that makes the iPhone 14 Pro series so great. The price difference between the 11th Gen iPad and its more recent stablemates more than makes up for the slight difference in processing power. See at Amazon Productivity at a Great Price The 11th Gen iPad isn’t a discontinued or refurbished tablet — it’s actually one of the newest members of Apple’s current iPad lineup, released just this past March. It sits at the perfect price point for buyers who want the iPad’s incredible Liquid Retina screen and multitasking power for gaming and productivity but maybe don’t want to make the significantly larger investment for the iPad Pro M4 or iPad Air M3. Many of the same features that make those high-end iPads a great streaming device or laptop-like experience are also present in the 11th Gen iPad. It supports the USB-C Apple Pencil and 1st Gen Apple Pencil, along with the Magic Keyboard Folio, and has the same Landscape 12MP Center Stage camera for video calls and conferencing, and 12MP rear Wide camera which can shoot 4K video. All the Latest Apps The 11th Gen iPad runs the current iPadOS, with several of Apple’s best apps built in and access to over 1 million more at the App Store. Games, reading apps, artistry and photo editing, podcasts, and high-end productivity are always just a click away with the 11th Gen iPad, which makes the sub-$300 price even more amazing. As a streaming device, the 11th Gen iPad has all the speed you need, with supercharged 5G and WiFi 6 connectivity delivering your favorite content to the brilliant 11-inch Liquid Retina screen that Apple is famous for. Amazon is the place to find the 11th Gen iPad for just $299 after a $50 markdown. It’s the first time this iPad has gone under the $300 mark, and it makes the 11th Gen iPad one of the best tablet buys on the market. See at Amazon

Adelie penguins on sea ice off the Antarctic PeninsulaAshley Cooper pics/Alamy Fumes of ammonia rising from piles of droppings in Antarctica’s crowded penguin colonies help boost the formation of clouds, which have a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight away from the surface. “This demonstrates a deep connection between the ecosystem and atmospheric processes,” says Matthew Boyer at the University of Helsinki in Finland. Advertisement The link comes down to the way ammonia affects the number of particles in the atmosphere. In order to form a cloud, water vapour must condense around a sizeable particle of some kind. But those are hard to come by in Antarctica’s cold, clean air. Without much dust, vegetation or air pollution around, most of the particles available for a would-be cloud are clusters of sulphuric acid molecules generated as a result of natural emissions from phytoplankton in waters around the continent. High concentrations of ammonia were already known to accelerate the formation of these clusters a thousand-fold. But where would ammonia come from in Antarctica? Penguin droppings should be a rich source. To check this, Boyer and his colleagues measured concentrations of ammonia, sulphuric acid and larger particles in the air several kilometres downwind of a 60,000-strong colony of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) on the Antarctic Peninsula. “They smell terrible,” says Boyer. “They’re dirty birds.” Unmissable news about our planet delivered straight to your inbox every month. Sign up to newsletter When wind was blowing from the direction of the colony, they found ammonia concentrations rose far above the levels found in air arriving from other directions. This rise in ammonia also boosted the formation of particles of sulphuric acid large enough for water to condense around them, and presumably to form clouds. This effect persisted for weeks after the penguins had moved on from the colony. More clouds, especially over the ocean, would have a cooling effect by reflecting sunlight away from Earth’s surface. Boyer says this also implies that a decline in penguin populations – for instance, due to sea ice loss driven by climate change – could have a warming effect across Antarctica by reducing cloud cover. However, the measurements taken in the current work aren’t enough to estimate the size of the effect. Other research suggests it could be significant. For instance, Jeffrey Pierce at Colorado State University and his colleagues found ammonia from puffin excretions in the Arctic similarly boosted cloud cover during summer. They estimated this resulted in a cooling effect that cancelled as much as a third of the warming due to carbon dioxide in the air across the region. “I’m sure it makes some impact,” says Pierce. Journal reference:Communications Earth and Environment DOI: 10.1038/s43247-025-02312-2 Topics:

Harvest, pack, ride Gouach wants you to insert and pluck the cells from its Infinite e-bike battery Tiny French firm wants to keep a few bad cells from spoiling a lot of e-bikes. Kevin Purdy – May 22, 2025 4:12 pm | 11 Credit: Gouach Credit: Gouach Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more E-bike batteries are, for the most part, a collection of 18650 batteries, packaged together and welded in series and parallel, attached to a battery management system (BMS). A "dead" e-bike battery may only have two or three truly dead cells inside, while the remainder work fine. This is useful knowledge that, for the most part, very few e-bike owners can really use. Arc welders are not a common tool to own, and most e-bike batteries are not designed to be opened, safely or otherwise. French firm Gouach, essentially a three-person company, is pitching its Infinite Battery as the opposite of this status quo. It's a durable, fireproof casing into which you can place and replace 18650 batteries using only a screwdriver. It keeps you updated on the status of cell performance and heat through a Bluetooth-connected app. And it's designed for compatibility with "90% of existing e-bike brands," or you can upgrade an existing "acoustic" model. Circuit boards, bent to riders’ will Alexandre Vallette, CEO of Gouach, told Ars that developing a system for no-weld battery wiring involved "a lot of trial and error" over four years. A typical "spring" contact for an 18650—the kind used by most devices that take AA or AAA batteries—doesn't work, because bike rides can knock them loose with vibration. What emerged were custom-printed circuit boards (PCBs), with just-flexible-enough contacts cut into the board to carry the current from each battery to the BMS, allowing for thermal monitoring across numerous points on the package. The Infinite Battery's case, too, was born of hard-won experimentation. Gouach provided early versions of its refillable batteries early on for a European bike-share company, using an off-the-shelf "shark"-style casing. Like anyone who lives in a city with dockless bike-sharing, they discovered the variety of places and angles at which people will leave a shared bike. Water ingress killed a number of bike batteries. "It was really a setback for the company [Gouach] at the time," Vallette said. "But we knew that the technology itself was good, so we designed our own casing." Gouach's casing is now rated IP67, Vallette said, and meets UL 2271 standards. Gouach's video demonstrating its battery case's fire resistance. Unexpected resistance There are three avenues for selling the Infinite Battery, as Vallette sees it. One is working with e-bike makers to incorporate Gouach's tech. Another is targeting e-bike owners and small bike shops who, this far into e-bikes' history, might be dealing with dead batteries. And then there are folks looking to build their own e-bikes. The Infinite Battery will be made available in 36 V and 48 V builds, and Gouach's app promises to help owners connect it to a wide variety of bikes. Actually fitting the battery case onto your bike is a different matter. Some bikes can accommodate the Gouach kit where their current battery sits, while others may end up mounting to a rack, or through creative, but hopefully secure, frame attachments. One of the biggest compatibility challenges, Vallette said, was finding a way to work with Bosch's mid-drive motors. The communications between a Bosch motor and battery are encrypted; after "a serious effort," Gouach's app and battery should work with them, Vallette said. Gouach, having raised more than $220,000 on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo from about 500 backers, and $3.5 million in venture funding, is getting close to offering the batteries through its own storefront. Gouach's roadmap puts them in mass production at the moment, with assorted bugs, certifications, and other matters to clear. EU-based backers should get their kits in June, with the US, and an open online store, to follow, barring whatever happens next in international trade. Vallette said in mid-May that the US's momentary 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports disrupted their plans, but work was underway. If nothing else, Gouach's DIY kit shows that a different way of thinking about e-bike batteries—as assemblages, not huge all-in-one consumables—is possible. Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin Purdy Senior Technology Reporter Kevin is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering open-source software, PC gaming, home automation, repairability, e-bikes, and tech history. He has previously worked at Lifehacker, Wirecutter, iFixit, and Carbon Switch. 11 Comments

Editor's take: I really want Doom: The Dark Ages to be good, and so far, the reviews look decent enough. However, other evidence, including declining player counts and online gab, paints a different picture. It also brings into question the sincerity of Bethesda's most recent social media post regarding the game's performance. Bethesda took time out of its busy schedule this week to take a victory lap over Doom: The Dark Ages, which has reached 3 million players since its May 15 release. The publisher claimed the game hit that milestone seven times faster than Doom Eternal, making it the most successful launch in id Software's history. We'll have to take its word for it, though – Bethesda offered no sales figures, and player counts are hard to verify since only Steam makes them public. Some have found Bethesda's claims dubious. Video Games Chronicle points out that Bethesda's assertion of The Dark Ages reaching 3 million players seven times faster than Doom Eternal contradicts known statistics. According to 2020 numbers from Superdata, Eternal took 10 days to reach that mark. Bethesda posted its self-congratulatory message on X five days after launch, meaning The Dark Ages met the goal twice as fast, not seven times. Although IGN gave the game a glowing 9/10 review, it expressed skepticism about the achievement. According to Steam data, Doom: The Dark Ages peaked at 31,470 concurrent players and has steadily declined since. Comparatively, Doom Eternal reached 104,891, and Doom (2016) hit 44,271 during similar timeframes. While concurrent Steam player counts don't reflect total player numbers, they offer a rough gauge of the game's momentum. While the newest installment in the franchise has earned solid marks – 86/100 from critics and 8.6/10 from users – forum chatter remains mixed, though it leans slightly positive. Redditor Westonsammy summed up the general consensus among his friends. "If you loved Eternal and its combat, you'll like Dark Ages but see it as a downgrade from Eternal in terms of gameplay," he wrote. "If you disliked Eternal and its combat, you'll love Dark Ages, and it'll be your favorite game in the trilogy." // Related Stories Many others found this a fair assessment, chiming in with views along the same lines, with difficulty (or lack thereof) being a common complaint. "In Eternal, I knew if I set it to nightmare, I was going to get a good challenge, whereas in TDA, I barely have to think on nightmare," Muddymess responded. "I could probably tweak the sliders to get a decent challenge, but that, to me, just feels cheap somehow [grammar edited for clarity]." Doomscrolling (pun intended) the same thread did not reveal much glowing praise, despite the original post – "Doom: The Dark Ages Is The 'Biggest Launch' In id Software History" – being a straightforward report on Bethesda's claim. Perhaps the tone was set by the first comment on the thread: "Love the game but I do feel it was a step backwards from eternal," Outside-Point8254 wrote. "It's really missing Mick Gordon music." Regardless of the contradictory nature of forum discussions versus reviews, the fact remains that it's hard to tell whether Bethesda is being genuine about the game's success or just blowing smoke to hype what could be the weakest id Software game in nearly a decade. Remember, in the age of software as a service/subscription, unique player numbers don't directly translate into sales figures. The Dark Ages was a day-one release on Game Pass, which likely gave it the boost it needed to surpass the 3 million player mark. With the game priced at $70, it makes sense that many who might have bought it – some even sight unseen – opted to play it for "free" through their existing Xbox subscriptions. Maybe we should wait until we have some sales figures to throw a party. Just sayin'.

The X9 takes the ThinkPad line in a new direction, still true to the ThinkPad identity but with a sleeker, thinner profile along with ample performance and battery life.

ZDNET's key takeaways Prices for the Dell 14 Plus currently start at $1,130During a time of economic turmoil, this laptop is a lifeline, providing next-gen performance at an affordable priceHowever, don't expect too much from its display, as it's no OLED or 4K panel. more buying choices Back in early 2025, Dell made a bold move. The company announced that it was going to rebrand its entire portfolio. Classic names like "XPS" and "Inspiron" were thrown out to be replaced with more generic-sounding titles. These include "Dell," "Dell Pro," and "Dell Premium." I've been anxious to try out this generation to see if it introduces a new era for Dell or if it's more of the same. I recently had that opportunity with the Dell 14 Plus.Also: Best Dell laptops of 2025This is the company's latest midrange laptop and one of the successors to the Inspiron series. It even looks like an Inspiron, sporting the familiar combination of gray, rubber keys on an all-silver body. Although the design isn't revolutionary, I still had a wonderful time with the Dell 14 Plus. It's this mixture of tried-and-true tech with next-gen advancements. To repeat what I said in my old Inspiron 14 Plus review, "the device has many of the hallmark features I enjoy in a laptop." details View at Dell If it ain't broke, don't fix itThe comfortable keyboard from the Inspiron 14 has returned. Its chiclet-shaped keys remain gentle yet responsive to the touch. They sit inside a chassis primarily made out of aluminum, giving Dell's machine a nice, sturdy feel. Like before, the edges on the bottom half are rounded for comfort.Also: This Lenovo laptop bombarded me with AI features - here's why that's a good thingI also like to think that Dell read my past review because I recommended that the brand continue using the same anti-fingerprint manufacturing technique for future products. Sure enough, the Dell 14 Plus did not have a single fingerprint smudge on it in all my time handling it.Solid performanceInside my review was an Intel Core Ultra 256V processor, an integrated Intel Arc graphics card, and 16GB of memory. Below is a table highlighting the Dell 14 Plus' performance results across multiple benchmark tests. I also included other laptops with similar hardware for comparison.PC Mark 10Cinebench 2024Geekbench 6Dell 14 Plus7,27155410,812Lenovo Yoga 9i 2-in-1 Aura Edition6,5623947,743HP EliteBook Ultra G1i7,32849610,993Looking at the numbers, you'll notice that Dell's computer did quite well in the three tests. It outperformed the Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition in every metric and is very close to outdoing the HP EliteBook. Also: The best 15-inch laptops of 2025: Expert tested and reviewedThis tells me the 14 Plus renders high-resolution images quickly and tackles demanding workloads with relative ease. It's not a high-end model, but the configuration can deliver a similar experience. Cesar Cadenas/ZDNETThis experience was reflected by my other performance test, in which I ran 50 different tabs on Google Chrome. My selection included several YouTube live streams (some in 4K resolution), ten ZDNET articles, five Amazon product listings, and a series of randomly chosen GIFs.Unsurprisingly, the Dell 14 Plus did great. It handled all of the open windows with just a touch of slowdown; nothing too debilitating. The one major downside of the heavy workload was overheating -- the keyboard became a little warm after several minutes.Let's talk about that displaySo, the laptop delivers a top-notch performance in addition to having a solid design. You may be wondering, "Are there any issues with the Dell 14 Plus?" Yes, I wasn't a big fan of the display. It isn't bad per se; the screen just didn't blow me away. Perhaps I've been spoiled by other laptops that excel in these areas.Also: This 16-inch Dell Inspiron is one of the most versatile laptops I've testedMy review unit had a 14-inch 2.5K (2,540 x 1,600) display that delivered impressive image detail. The display's anti-glare coating helps maintain clarity under bright conditions. However, compared to the Lenovo Yoga 9i mentioned earlier, the Dell 14 Plus has a noticeably dull screen. And it's not without support. Dolby Vision is present, allowing the display to support a wide range of colors, but it's still not great. Cesar Cadenas/ZDNETAlso inside the chassis are a pair of 2.5W speakers supported by Waves MaxxAudio Pro and Dolby Atmos Cores. Together, they enable immersive sound output. However, the drivers are located at the bottom of the laptop, pointing down. I've never been a fan of this placement as it muffles the sound.Also: 'End of 10' offers hope and help to Windows 10 users who can't upgradeFortunately, the aforementioned audio software pairing allows the Dell 14 Plus to circumvent this limitation somewhat. Music and dialogue sound fine coming out of the speakers. That said, I can't help but wonder how better the sound output would be if the drivers were on top. Cesar Cadenas/ZDNETIn terms of battery life, the Dell 14 Plus ran for about 11 hours and 40 minutes under Best Power Efficiency before draining completely. For the sake of comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition can hit a solid 12 hours with the right optimization. I end up liking Dell's machine more because it offers a comparable experience at a lower price.ZDNET's buying advicePrices for the Dell 14 Plus start at $1,129. My review unit's configuration is slightly more expensive at $1,180. The most powerful option comes with an Intel Core Ultra 9 288V chipset and 32GB of RAM. It is currently on sale at a discounted $1,280. All three come with a 1 TB SSD.Dell's latest machine stands tall as a great affordable option that performs very well amongst a sea of expensive computers. It was such a good experience that I am overlooking the few issues I had with it. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a next-gen laptop that won't make your wallet cringe at the price tag. For me, it is definitely a highlight of 2025.That said, if you are looking for something else, I recommend the Lenovo Yoga 9i Aura Edition. It has a significantly better display and robust AI features, although it is more expensive.  What are the tariffs in the US? The recent US tariffs on imports from countries like China, Vietnam, and India aim to boost domestic manufacturing but are likely to drive up prices on consumer electronics. Products like smartphones, laptops, and TVs may become more expensive as companies rethink global supply chains and weigh the cost of shifting production.Laptops and PCs are also hit hard by the new US tariffs, with import duties potentially increasing prices by up to 35%. Many major brands still rely on Chinese and Vietnamese factories for assembly, meaning consumers could soon pay significantly more for everything from budget Chromebooks to high-end gaming rigs. These tariffs may accelerate efforts to move production to regions like Mexico or India, but shoppers can expect higher costs and fewer discounts in the short term. Show more Featured reviews

Users Congress Passed a Sweeping Free-Speech Crackdown—and No One’s Talking About It The TAKE IT DOWN Act passed with bipartisan support and glowing coverage. Experts warn that it threatens the very users it claims to protect. By Nitish Pahwa Enter your email to receive alerts for this author. Sign in or create an account to better manage your email preferences. May 22, 20252:03 PM Donald and Melania Trump during the signing of the TAKE IT DOWN Act at the White House on Monday. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Had you scanned any of the latest headlines around the TAKE IT DOWN Act, legislation that President Donald Trump signed into law Monday, you would have come away with a deeply mistaken impression of the bill and its true purpose. The surface-level pitch is that this is a necessary law for addressing nonconsensual intimate images—known more widely as revenge porn. Obfuscating its intent with a classic congressional acronym (Tools to Address Known Exploitation by Immobilizing Technological Deepfakes on Websites and Networks), the TAKE IT DOWN Act purports to help scrub the internet of exploitative, nonconsensual sexual media, whether real or digitally mocked up, at a time when artificial intelligence tools and automated image generators have supercharged its spread. Enforcement is delegated to the Federal Trade Commission, which will give online communities that specialize primarily in user-generated content (e.g., social media, message boards) a heads-up and a 48-hour takedown deadline whenever an appropriate example is reported. These platforms have also been directed to set up on-site reporting systems by May 2026. Penalties for violations include prison sentences of two to three years and steep monetary fines. Public reception has been rapturous. CNN is gushing that “victims of explicit deepfakes will now be able to take legal action against people who create them.” A few local Fox affiliates are taking the government at its word that TAKE IT DOWN is designed to target revenge porn. Other outlets, like the BBC and USA Today, led off by noting first lady Melania Trump’s appearance at the bill signing. Yet these headlines and pieces ignore TAKE IT DOWN’s serious potential for abuse. (Jezebel and Wired were perhaps the only publications to point out in both a headline and subhead that the law merely “claims to offer victims greater protections” and that “free speech advocates warn it could be weaponized to fuel censorship.”) Rarer still, with the exception of sites like the Verge, has there been any acknowledgment of Trump’s own stated motivation for passing the act, as he’d underlined in a joint address to Congress in March: “I’m going to use that bill for myself too, if you don’t mind, because nobody gets treated worse than I do online, nobody.” Sure, it’s typical for this president to make such serious matters about himself. But Trump’s blathering about having it “worse” than revenge-porn survivors, and his quip about “using that bill for myself,” is not a fluke. For a while now, activists who specialize in free speech, digital privacy, and even stopping child sexual abuse have attempted to warn that the bill will not do what it purports to do. Late last month, after TAKE IT DOWN had passed both the House and Senate, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote that the bill’s legislative mechanism “lacks critical safeguards against frivolous or bad-faith takedown requests.” For one, the 48-hour takedown deadline means that digital platforms (especially smaller, less-resourced websites) will be forced to use automated filters that often flag legal content—because there won’t be “enough time to verify whether the speech is actually illegal.” The EFF also warns that TAKE IT DOWN requires monitoring that could reach into even encrypted messages between users. If this legislation has the effect of granting law enforcement a means of bypassing encrypted communications, we may as well bid farewell to the very concept of digital privacy. A February letter addressed to the Senate from a wide range of free-expression nonprofits—including Fight for the Future and the Authors Guild—also raised concerns over TAKE IT DOWN’s implications for content moderation and encryption. The groups noted that although the bill makes allowances for legal porn and newsworthy content, “those exceptions are not included in the bill’s takedown system.” They added that private tools like direct messages and cloud storage aren’t protected either, which could leave them open to invasive monitoring with little justification. The Center for Democracy and Technology, a signatory to the letter, later noted in a follow-up statement that the powers granted to the FTC in enforcing such a vague law could lead to politically motivated attacks, undermining progress in tackling actual nonconsensual imagery. Techdirt’s Mike Masnick wrote last month that TAKE IT DOWN is “so badly designed that the people it’s meant to help oppose it,” pointing to public statements from the advocacy group Cyber Civil Rights Initiative, “whose entire existence is based on representing the interests of victims” of nonconsensual intimate imagery. CCRI has long criticized the bill’s takedown provisions and ultimately concluded that the nonprofit “cannot support legislation that risks endangering the very communities it is dedicated to protecting, including LGBTQIA+ individuals, people of color, and other vulnerable groups.” (In a separate statement, the CCRI highlighted other oddities within the bill, like a loophole allowing for nonconsensual sexual media to be posted if the uploader happens to appear in the image, and the explicit inclusion of forums that specialize in “audio files,” despite otherwise focusing on visual materials.) “The concerns are not theoretical,” Masnick continued. “The bill’s vague standards combined with harsh criminal penalties create a perfect storm for censorship and abuse.” Related From Slate Let’s be clear: No one here is at all opposed to sound legislation that tackles the inescapable, undeniable problem of nonconsensual sexual material. All 50 states, along with the District of Columbia, have enacted laws criminalizing exploitative sexual photos and videos to varying degrees. TAKE IT DOWN extends such coverage to deepfake revenge porn, a change that makes the bill a necessary complement to these state laws—but its text is shockingly narrow on the digital front, criminalizing only A.I. imagery that’s deemed to be “indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction.” This just leads to more vague language that hardly addresses the underlying issue. The CCRI has spent a full decade fighting for laws to address the crisis of nonconsensual sexual imagery, even drafting model legislation—parts of which did make it into TAKE IT DOWN. On Bluesky, CCRI President Mary Anne Franks called this fact “bittersweet,” proclaiming that the long-overdue criminalization of exploitative sexual imagery is undermined by the final law’s “lack of adequate safeguards against false reports.” A few House Democrats looked to the group’s proposed fixes and attempted to pass amendments that would have added such safeguards, only to be obstructed by their Republican colleagues. This should worry everyone. These groups made concerted efforts to inform Congress of the issues with TAKE IT DOWN and to propose solutions, only to be all but ignored. As Masnick wrote in another Techdirt post, the United States already has enough of a problem with the infamous Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the only other American law with a notice-and-takedown measure like TAKE IT DOWN’s, albeit designed to prevent the unauthorized spread of copyright works. Just ask any creatives or platform operators who’ve had to deal with abusive flurries of bad-faith DMCA takedown requests—even though the law includes a clause meant to protect against such weaponization. There’s no reason to believe that TAKE IT DOWN won’t be similarly exploited to go after sex workers and LGBTQ+ users, as well as anyone who posts an image or animation that another user simply doesn’t like and decides to report. It’s not dissimilar to other pieces of proposed legislation, like the Kids Online Safety Act, that purport to protect young netizens via wishy-washy terms that could criminalize all sorts of free expression. Popular in Technology Here’s a hypothetical: A satirical cartoonist comes up with an illustration of Trump as a baby and publishes it on a niche social media platform that they use to showcase their art. A Trump supporter finds this cartoon and decides to report it as abusive pornography, leading to a takedown notice on the cartoonist’s website. The artist and the platform do not comply, and a pissed-off Trump brings the full force of the law against this creator. The process of discovery leads prosecutors to break into the artist’s encrypted communications, revealing drafts of the drawing that the cartoonist had shared with friends. All of this gets the illustrator punished with a brief prison sentence and steep fine, fully sabotaging their bank account and career; the social media platform they used is left bankrupt and shutters. The artists are forced to migrate to another site, whose administrators see what happened to their former home and decide to censor political works. All the while, an underage user finds that their likeness has been used to generate a sexually explicit deepfake that has been spread all over Discord—yet their case is found to have no merit because the deepfake in question is not considered “indistinguishable from an authentic visual depiction,” despite all the Discord-based abusers recognizing exactly whom that deepfake is meant to represent. It’s a hypothetical—but not an unimaginable one. It’s a danger that too few Americans understand, thanks to congressional ignorance and the media’s credulous reporting on TAKE IT DOWN. The result is a law that’s supposedly meant to protect the vulnerable but ends up shielding the powerful—and punishing the very people it promised to help. Get the best of news and politics Sign up for Slate's evening newsletter.