writing without writing In 3.5 years, Notepad.exe has gone from “barely maintained” to “it writes for you” AI features in Windows are gradually becoming more widespread and inescapable. Andrew Cunningham – May 22, 2025 6:46 pm | 0 Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more By late 2021, major updates for Windows' built-in Notepad text editor had been so rare for so long that a gentle redesign and a handful of new settings were rated as a major update. New updates have become much more common since then, but like the rest of Windows, recent additions have been overwhelmingly weighted in the direction of generative AI. In November, Microsoft began testing an update that allowed users to rewrite or summarize text in Notepad using generative AI. Another preview update today takes it one step further, allowing you to write AI-generated text from scratch with basic instructions (the feature is called Write, to differentiate it from the earlier Rewrite). Like Rewrite and Summarize, Write requires users to be signed into a Microsoft Account, because using it requires you to use your monthly allotment of Microsoft's AI credits. Per this support page, users without a paid Microsoft 365 subscription get 15 credits per month. Subscribers with Personal and Family subscriptions get 60 credits per month instead. Microsoft notes that all AI features in Notepad can be disabled in the app's settings, and obviously, they won't be available if you use a local account instead of a Microsoft Account. Microsoft is also releasing preview updates for Paint and Snipping Tool, two other bedrock Windows apps that hadn't seen much by way of major updates before the Windows 11 era. Paint's features are also mostly AI-related, including a "sticker generator" and an AI-powered smart select tool "to help you isolate and edit individual elements in your image." A new "welcome experience" screen that appears the first time you launch the app will walk you through the (again, mostly AI-related) new features Microsoft has added to Paint in the last couple of years. Snipping Tool gets two new features. One is a color picker that will let you see the hex, RGB, or HSL values of colors in a given screenshot. The other is a "perfect screenshot" option that will attempt to automatically crop app windows or other elements onscreen without requiring you to edit it manually after you capture it. The perfect screenshot feature appears to use local processing rather than cloud processing, because it requires a Copilot+ PC. This means using it doesn't require AI credits, but it will also only function on brand-new PCs with certain Qualcomm Snapdragon, Intel Core Ultra, or AMD Ryzen AI processors inside. These updates are rolling out to Windows Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels, which get new features faster than the Beta or Release Preview channels but are also less stable. Not all of these features will make it to the general public, but the ones that do should be released in the next few weeks or months. Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew Cunningham Senior Technology Reporter Andrew is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica, with a focus on consumer tech including computer hardware and in-depth reviews of operating systems like Windows and macOS. Andrew lives in Philadelphia and co-hosts a weekly book podcast called Overdue. 0 Comments

Choose wisely! The correct answer, the explanation, and an intriguing story await. Correct Answer: AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT Here's the story behind it The PlayStation 5 is powered by a custom AMD GPU based on the RDNA 2 architecture. In terms of performance, it is roughly equivalent to the AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT. This custom GPU features 36 compute units operating at variable frequencies of up to 2.23 GHz, delivering approximately 10.28 teraflops of graphical processing power. While these specs place it in the same general performance tier as the RX 6700 XT, direct comparisons can vary due to the PS5's highly optimized and integrated hardware design, which allows developers to extract more consistent real-world performance than a similarly specced PC GPU might achieve. In the PC realm, the Radeon RX 6700 XT competed against Nvidia's GeForce RTX 3060 Ti and performs slightly below the RTX 4060 Ti in terms of raw rasterization power. However, these comparisons can depend on the specific game and workload, especially when considering features like ray tracing and DLSS, where Nvidia GPUs tend to handle differently than AMD's offerings. Complementing the GPU, the PS5 also includes a custom AMD Zen 2-based CPU. This processor has 8 cores and 16 threads, running at up to 3.5 GHz with variable frequency. The Zen 2 architecture (used in the AMD Ryzen 3000 desktop PC CPU series, for example) was a significant leap in performance and efficiency compared to previous generations. The PlayStation 5 is equipped with 16 GB of GDDR6 memory, shared between the CPU and GPU in a unified memory architecture. This configuration provides high bandwidth (up to 448 GB/s) and low latency, facilitating rapid data access and efficient resource sharing. This unified approach helps game developers streamline asset streaming and memory management, contributing to smoother performance and faster load times, especially when paired with the console's fast NVMe SSD.

The US House of Representatives just narrowly passed a budget bill, which has been referred to by President Trump and others as "one big, beautiful bill." Hidden amongst the cuts to health care, debt add-ons and tax breaks for the rich is a ten-year ban of state AI laws. You read that right. States would be banned by the federal government from enforcing laws that regulate AI for the next decade.The vote fell largely along party lines, with nearly every Republican member of the House approving the bill. This marks one of the most significant federal actions on technology policy in decades and it was buried in a budget bill that has nothing to do with AI.This isn't law just yet. The budget bill has to pass through the Senate and it could have a difficult road. It's expected that Democratic lawmakers will challenge the AI regulation ban under what's called the Byrd Rule, which prohibits "extraneous" provisions to the federal budget during the reconciliation process.To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.Even some Senate Republicans seem wary of the ban. Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee expressed concern that it would override state legislation that protects artists from deepfakes in her state. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri has also pushed back on the idea on the grounds that it could "tamp down on people's efforts to address" issues posed by AI.ADVERTISEMENTAdvertisementSupporters of the ban argue that it would stop a potentially confusing patchwork of differing state AI laws until Congress can craft its own federal legislation. This is pretty odd coming from the "states' rights" crowd, but whatever.Opponents, like many Democratic lawmakers and advocacy organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation, call it a dangerous giveaway to big tech firms, as these companies stand to benefit the most from a completely unregulated market. They also say it poses a serious danger to Americans, as it would leave the citizenry unprotected from any associated risk. Current state laws address issues including deepfakes and discrimination in automated hiring.“Make no mistake, the families who have come to this committee and begged for us to act won't benefit from this proposal,” said Democratic Rep. Lori Trahan during a subcommittee hearing on the matter. “But you know who will? The big tech CEOs who are sitting behind Donald Trump at his inauguration."To view this content, you'll need to update your privacy settings. Please click here and view the "Content and social-media partners" setting to do so.The budget bill, as passed by the House, also includes cuts to Medicaid totaling an estimated $625 billion and cuts to SNAP, otherwise called food stamps, totaling $300 billion. It could also force $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, which serves senior citizens, as a byproduct of adding nearly $4 trillion to the national deficit. It also ends the EV tax credit. All of this pays for an extension and expansion of previous tax cuts that disproportionately favor high-income earners.If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission.

As I’ve searched across sites from AD-favorite bedding brands, I couldn’t help but notice that tried-and-true retailers like Quince and Serena & Lily are getting in on the action with picks that are strikingly similar to designs you’d find in a fashion catalog, and for good reason. Like linen sheets, AD PRO Directory designer Jasmine Artis, owner and principal designer of J’Miracle Designs, says what she loves about a denim-like material in home interiors is that it “provides durability, texture, and a relaxed aesthetic.” What’s more, she describes it as casual luxury: “It appears laid-back but still feels thoughtfully styled, especially when paired with layered textures.”When searching for denim-centric bedding, Artis recommends gathering inspiration from your favorite pair of jeans with attributes such as pre-washed fabrics, contrast stitching, indigo blue hues, or just plain-out comfort. “Suppliers have responded to this trend by offering a range of denim bedding products from duvets, comforters, rugs, and even lamp shades,” she says. Artis suggests looking for high-quality materials like washed denim, cotton chambray, cotton twill, recycled denim, or cotton linen blends on care labels to ensure easy care (typically a machine wash and tumble dry) and that they’re designed to last—just like your go-to pair of pants. Shaffer adds that materials like the aforementioned fabrics not only help capture the look and texture of denim but they also offer the breathability that you’ll need to comfortably catch some z’s.Photo: Angelina DreemWhen it comes to styling, don’t be afraid to experiment. Artis recommends pairing bedding with neutrals for a clean look, as this keeps the space airy and modern while still allowing the denim to be the centerpiece in the bedroom. Otherwise, she recommends pairing lightwash blue colors with textures, like sherpa or fur throws and velvet decorative pillows."Colorwashing is having a real moment in interior design right now,” Shaffer adds. “A fully tonal blue room can be incredibly striking, especially when layered with different textures and shades.” To create a Canadian tuxedo-like sleep setup that makes the space feel completely cohesive, she points to sourcing a blue rug for starters and recommends building from there for tonal depth.West Elm Faux Fur Chinchilla ThrowRuggable Impasto Slate Blue RugThe Citizenry Naveta Velvet PillowIf you want to go the deep blue denim route, Artis notes that this instantly brings a “bold, cozy, yet grounded vibe to a bedroom.” She loves to pair this color scheme with lots of layering. Think velvet and wool throws and bedspreads in rich colors like midnight blue, olive, or aubergine. “Also, I like to incorporate woods and brass elements in which the denim creates a warm balance,” she says.Parachute Linen Duvet Cover SetRejuvenation Atticus LED Table LampLinoto Aubergine Linen Sheet SetWhile all of these experts know a thing or two about styling with this fabric, they all just recommend letting your bedscape become your playground. “I typically don’t ascribe to do’s and don’ts,” says Shaffer. “Interior design is all about having fun and playing around with the textures and colors that are exciting to you and make you feel warm and welcome in your space."As for me, I’m going back to listening to “Levii’s Jeans” and updating my own wish list to make this trend a reality for my bedroom. From a comforter set to pillow shams, here are even more picks to inspire your shopping journey:The Citizenry Stonewashed Linen Curated Bed BundleCompany Cotton Washed Denim Duvet CoverPottery Barn Teen Denim Duvet CoverArticle Elmer Large PillowSimple&Opulence French Linen Duvet Cover SetWest Elm Cotton Cloud Jersey Duvet CoverPottery Barn Teen Denim Stitch QuiltAnnie Selke Kodi Batik Duvet Cover

This article contains Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning spoilers. Before Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning earned its latest title, it was previously called Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 2. Considering Part 1’s muted box office reception in 2023 (back when it had the unenviable task of opening sans IMAX screens a week before Barbenheimer), Paramount was probably wise to change it. And yet, as late as November of last year, the still untitled Mission: Impossible 8 was apparently at the center of competing marketing visions between the studio and its star/producer/living manifestation of destiny: Tom Cruise. According to a THRFinal Reckoning moniker that came to pass, plus all the callbacks and cameos that were spoiled in the film before release (I for one wish I hadn’t known that Rolfe Saxon’s delightful reprisal of the CIA analyst who had the worst day of his life in the original 1996 Mission: Impossible was returning). Yet while the film put “final” in the title, and the word was dropped heavily throughout the script—including by Shea Wingham when he promised Ethan Hunt that they were going to have “a reckoning”—the creative loggerheads over whether this really was the end seems to have bedeviled M:I8 all the way to the closing sequence. For deep in London’s busy Trafalgar Square, a retinue of familiar faces gather in the crowds beneath Nelson’s Column. Cruise’s Ethan is there, of course, as is Hayley Atwell’s Grace and Simon Pegg’s Benji. Even Pom Klementieff seems locked in as a permanent IMF fixture, which is impressive since canonically she was trying to kill all these folks only a month earlier. In many ways it gives closure to the adventure we just watched… but only to a point. In fact, like so much else of The Final Reckoning, the ending feels like a variation of scenes we’ve already seen in this series, such as the surviving members of the team gathering for a victory drink in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, or having a celebratory stroll through the London evening streets (which is the original deleted ending to Mission: Impossible – Fallout). Ultimately much of Final Reckoning feels like a retread of something the series has done relatively recently, and often better, including an ending that refuses to say goodbye to anyone—except maybe Ving Rhames’ fan favorite Luther, who like Rebecca Ferguson’s Ilsa in the last movie discovered that the only way for their actor to retire from the series was by being killed off by a pretty underwhelming villain named Gabriel (Esai Morales). Otherwise though, this is the conclusion of almost any other Mission flick, and one that feels faintly tinkered with. It is easy to speculate, for instance, whether that scene was a reshoot since none of the stars are seen in the same shot together. Even the setting beneath Nelson’s Column looks like an untied thread after we previously spied the statue of Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson at the beginning of the film right before our first shot of Ethan in London. The historical Nelson died ostensibly saving the world (at least from the British perspective) at the Battle of Trafalgar where he led the Royal Navy in a rout of Napoleon Bonaparte’s ships, cementing British supremacy of the seas for the next hundred years. The subtext of beginning the movie with Nelson, therefore, would seem to be that we were about to see another great man give his life to save the world from a megalomaniac. Instead Ethan not only survived The Final Reckoning, but pretty much went through the exact same ending he experienced in Mission: Impossible – Fallout where Cruise’s hero was forced to commandeer one flying contraption (a biplane now instead of a helicopter) in order to hijack another with his enemy, all so he can snap some MacGuffin into place at a great height while the rest of the team disarms the proverbial ticking bomb that is about to destroy the world. This in no way is meant to undercut the pure spectacle thrill of The Final Reckoning’s climax. Seeing Tom Cruise cling from a biplane that is doing barrel rolls in IMAX is worth the price of admission alone. However, the repetitive nature of it suspiciously resembles a compromise. The Mission films during Christopher McQuarrie’s superb tenure as writer-director—beginning with Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation 10 years ago—are famous for their playing the story by ear on the set. Yet despite Dead Reckoning and even the first act of Final Reckoning inserting some pretty major setups meant to confront Ethan’s past (including with the man who apparently killed a great love of his life 35 years ago and sent him into the IMF) nothing significantly is resolved. We never learn exactly who Ethan was before the IMF, what Gabriel meant to him, or how much this film is about him living with the losses of Ilsa and Luther. Furthermore, even Shea Wigham’s threat that they would have “a reckoning” when this is all over—which comes after the limp reveal that Agent Briggs is actually Jim Phelps Jr.—culminates in nothing more than a handshake and hug. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! The ending of “the Final Reckoning” is treated like an afterthought. In one sense, this is no dealbreaker. Even the best Mission films, which I count Cruise and McQ’s partnership on Fallout and Rogue Nation as the pinnacle of, have never been “plot movies.” With the exception of maybe the first film’s techno thriller elements, every M:I flick is about the spectacle and/or the fun of the team dynamics. They are affirmations of Cruise’s movie stardom achieving an almost religious apotheosis. Yet by marketing the eighth film as the last one, Final Reckoning set expectations its star clearly had no intention of meeting. In retrospect, we should have believed Cruise back in 2023 when he said “I hope to keep making Mission: Impossible movies until I’m [Harrison Ford’s] age.” So the end of Final Reckoning is no ending at all for the franchise, which which becomes a problem when it fitfully attempts to emulate the gravity of franchise closers like The Dark Knight Rises, No Time to Die, and Avengers: Endgame (at least in terms of Iron Man and Black Widow). There are no real goodbyes in Final Reckoning, but the movie is still almost certainly a farewell of sorts—to this iteration of the franchise which began a decade ago. McQuarrie is, again, the greatest collaborator Cruise has ever found on this series. They created the platonic ideal of what a Mission film should be in Rogue Nation and then elevated it to rarified, god tier levels within the action genre in Fallout. But it would seem McQuarrie has pushed his messianic interpretation of Ethan to a breaking point. That becomes more pronounced, too, when considering the latest entry began production during COVID and ended it on the other side of the labor strikes of 2023, causing its budget to reach a reported $400 million zenith. That is a record no studio Still, I suspect if anyone can convince a studio to invest in a franchise even after that kind of budget explosion, it’s Cruise. And until relatively recently he has kept the Mission films healthy and exciting by bringing in new directors who radically reinvent it in terms of tone, aesthetics, and even interpretations of the central character. Cruise’s all-American farmboy turned spy in Brian De Palma’s original film is not the Kung fu-kicking rebel in John Woo’s M:I2, and neither are convincingly J.J. Abrams’ familiar schtick of a suburban everyman (or woman) who has an espionage secret in the closet. McQuarrie’s version of Ethan is my favorite: the reckless gambler with a heart so big that it will redeem all mankind of its sins one insane stunt at a time. But between the 63-year-old movie star getting older and Final Reckoning arguably missing the highs of Fallout in spite its bigger budget, it is likely time to soft reboot the series again. Which might explain the non-ending of Ethan Hunt drifting into the crowd, heading toward his next reinvention.

Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover) $23.60 (was $45) See at Amazon Warhammer 40,000: Character Encyclopedia (Hardcover) $25.19 (was $28) | Releases October 7 Preorder at Amazon The annual Warhammer Skulls livestream provided a look at what's next for Games Workshop's popular multimedia franchise. Because of the sprawling nature of the Warhammer IP, it can seem a bit intimidating for newcomers. If you're interested in learning more about the history and lore of the tabletop wargame that has evolved to include dozens of video games and hundreds of novels, the first official Warhammer encyclopedia is up for grabs for nearly 50% off at Amazon.Published last October, Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide is discounted to $23.60 (was $45). The hardcover book has been a mainstay on Amazon's Warhammer and video game reference book charts since its release, and the current deal is the best we've seen. Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide (Hardcover) $23.60 (was $45) The Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide was written by Guy Haley and Gav Thorpe, both of whom have extensive experience writing about the franchise. Haley and Thorpe are two of the best-known authors of Warhammer prose novels published by Games Workshop's Black Library division.The 336-page hardcover encyclopedia is packed with lore for each of 40K's many factions, plus illustrations and hundreds of high-quality photos of the tabletop miniatures, including detailed looks at how each army and their most important characters have evolved over each edition of the game.Warhammer 40,000: The Ultimate Guide offers a convenient way to get up to speed on the in-game universe. Even if you aren't a Warhammer newcomer, the book's full-color, exclusive illustrations make it a great collectible and art book for longtime fans. This is especially true if you're interested in the tabletop game.If you're curious to learn more about the Imperium of Man, its super-powered Space Marine soldiers, and its many enemies (and victims), or you're a veteran looking to admire some professionally painted minis, this book has it all. See at Amazon Warhammer 40,000: Character Encyclopedia (Hardcover) $25.19 (was $28) | Releases October 7 The Ultimate Guide will soon be complemented by an official encyclopedia dedicated to Warhammer characters. Warhammer 40,000: Character Encyclopedia covers 120 characters from the tabletop and video game universe and will come with a free miniature.The 200-page Character Encyclopedia will be published on October 7 and is available to preorder for $25.19 (was $28). Preorder at Amazon Gallery Continue Reading at GameSpot

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 

CDC and FDA officials are investigating the outbreak after 9 patients were hospitalized amid cucumber recall.

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.

Pros Impressive visual upgradeMemorable quest linesDLC is includedUnintentionally hilarious moments Cons Bugs, new and oldDungeons lack variety The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered Specs ESRB Rating M for Mature Games Genre RPG Games Platform PC Games Platform PlayStation 5 Games Platform Xbox Series S Games Platform Xbox Series X All Specs It's been 14 years since Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim debuted, and since then, there have been seven unique releases of the seminal open-world RPG (including a voice-only version for Amazon Alexa). Its predecessor, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, has not been so lucky, left behind to languish in its original form on the PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3—until now. Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered ($49.99, tested on PlayStation 5 Pro, also available on PC and Xbox Series X/S) is a visual update of one of the most important RPGs ever made. It gives the nearly 20-year-old title a much-deserved facelift thanks to Unreal Engine 5—and for better or worse, it preserves everything that made the game iconic. Nearly two decades in, Oblivion remains a highly enjoyable RPG that appeals to newcomers and veterans alike, earning it our Editors’ Choice award. What's New in Oblivion Remastered?"Find him, and close shut the doors of Oblivion." Those were the final words uttered by Emperor Uriel Septum—played by none other than Star Trek's Patrick Stewart—before an assassin leaped out of the shadows to cut him down. That not only capped Elder Scrolls IV's tutorial and began the game in earnest, but also kick-started my Elder Scrolls love nearly 20 years ago. (Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/PCMag)At the time, open-world games were dominated by urban, Grand Theft Auto-like titles, so The Elder Scrolls IV was my first experience with a fantasy realm cut from that template. Even after hours of fast traveling, horseback riding, and slowly jogging from point A to point B, there were more quests to find, gear to loot, and havoc to wreak. Oblivion was rough around the edges, but it touched me in a way that contemporary Bethesda releases, such as Fallout 4, Skyrim, and Starfield, do not.I was surprised by how much Oblivion was ingrained in my brain when I loaded up the remaster on my PlayStation 5. I was also surprised by how much of that original title remains in the new version. From the Lord of the Rings-esque opening track to the weird, center-of-the-screen zoom that frames every conversation, it's immediately apparent that 2025's Oblivion Remastered is nearly the same game as the 2006 release, albeit wrapped in an Unreal Engine shell.(Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/PCMag)That's not to say that nothing has changed, and Oblivion Remastered's new coat of paint comes with art direction shifts that may not resonate with fans of the original. Upon stepping out of the Imperial Sewers and into the world of Cyrodiil, I immediately noticed that the high-contrast green hills I remembered were now muted and shaded more realistically. This gives Oblivion Remastered some visual inconsistencies, as some outfits and characters look noticeably dull. But for every ugly NPC, I found a gorgeous Aurora Borealis stretched across the night sky, or stared at the shadows dancing behind a burning torch illuminating a dark dungeon.I was also impressed by Oblivion Remastered's sound design, which preserves much of the original release's charm. The iconic score is just as I remember it, but most importantly, the fully voiced characters return. Performances from notable actors like Sean Bean and Patrick Stewart stand out, but the real stars are the voice actors who portray dozens of unique characters throughout Cyrodiil. (Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/PCMag)They remind me of a community theatre doing medieval impressions at the local Renaissance Fair. I mean that with love. However, bizarre line deliveries and intonations make it hard not to laugh. Couple that with bugs and the less-than-stellar AI, and you'll encounter many bizarre interactions.In one instance, as I traveled to an objective, I spotted an elf running across the plains with her fist up, punching every deer in her way. In another case, I had just closed an Oblivion Gate, and as soon as the guard captain congratulated me, he became disgruntled and told me to get out of his face. As I walked through the survivors' camp after a Daedra attack, three characters began talking over one another, spouting the same dialogue. Those moments helped solidify Oblivion as an unintended comedic masterpiece. As modern games become obsessed with movie-quality performances and hyper-realistic graphics, it's nice to step back and appreciate the jank that persists underneath Oblivion Remastered's Unreal Engine glow. That authenticity defines and elevates Oblivion for the same reasons an earnest B-movie becomes a cult classic.Recommended by Our Editors(Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/ PCMag)That said, Oblivion's open world, as new as it was at the time, wasn't the real reason I fell in love with it. Rather, I was obsessed with the idea of consequences. More so than being good or evil, Oblivion remembers your actions and responds accordingly. Killing the wrong person gets you kicked out of guilds, while other characters react to you negatively when you try to steal from them. Guards chase you down and toss you into jail. Quests become inaccessible if you take the wrong action. This made the game world feel alive in a way that many games do not. That was true in 2006, and it remains true in the 2025 remaster.GameplayThe beat-by-beat gameplay remains fun, if simple. Although Oblivion Remastered isn't as deep as Baldur’s Gate III, it has a wide variety of classes, races, and playstyles that enable player creativity. I played as a Redguard, a race that's proficient in Athletics, Blade, and Blunt weapons, and Light and Heavy Armor. Born under the Warrior sign, my character enjoyed increased strength and endurance. As a result, I approached almost every situation like a medieval Terminator.(Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/PCMag)There's room to adjust your playstyle. So, if your heart desires a Battlemage for one situation and a stealth archer for another, you can easily pivot in one direction or the other. New gameplay changes claim to improve the combat, but I didn't notice much of a difference during testing. However, the improved controls, camera, and sprint are greatly appreciated.The guilds feature some of the more memorable quest lines. The Dark Brotherhood, one of my favorites, sees you murder targets, Hitman style. Meanwhile, the Thieves Guild tasks you with outwitting guards to steal high-profile gear, but only after you've done a certain amount of independent thievery. The Oblivion Remastered includes the two expansion packs, Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, plus additional DLC packs (yes, that includes the infamous horse armor pack). The Deluxe Edition includes a digital artbook and new quests, armor, and weapons.(Credit: Bethesda Game Studios/PCMag)The main quest line, which focuses on finding a new heir to battle the evil pouring from giant Oblivion gates, is pretty forgettable. Dungeon crawling is also fairly trite, with caverns and temples that repeat ad nauseam. Although there's much to explore in Cyrodiil, it isn’t too exciting if it's not attached to a quest.Graphics and PerformanceI spent my review time playing on the PlayStation 5 Pro (Oblivion Remastered is PS5 Pro Enhanced), and performance was mostly good. The game defaults to Performance mode and targets 60 frames per second. It didn't hit that target often, especially during large battles. However, switching to Quality mode was just awful. It tanked the frame rate and didn't add much visual fidelity. It's not worth the performance trade-off.Although I praise Oblivion Remastered's core for being authentically stuck in 2006, I must remove my nostalgia goggles for a moment to address the game's bugs and glitches. Many are funny, while others are game-breaking. Oblivion Remastered crashed multiple times during testing. In some cases, quest-giving characters refused to spawn or spawned in the wrong locations. On one occasion, I fell through the floor. A generous auto-save system prevents losing lots of progress, but it's still a pain to retread your last 20 minutes.Some may argue that glitches are part of the Oblivion experience, and in a way, they aren't wrong. However, there's no denying that annoying bugs from nearly 20 years ago should have been squashed by now.