Welcome to TNW Basics, a collection of tips, guides, and advice on how to easily get the most out of your gadgets, apps, and other stuff. I hate shopping. Hard Fork! Hard Fork? Hard Fork I hate the aisles. I hate the noise and the random tannoy announcements. I hate the chaotic changes in smells and temperature as I drag myself from the deli counter to the cold section. I hate unexpected items in the bagging area. But most of all, I hate remembering what I need to buy.
Alienware‘s m17 is a hard laptop to pigeonhole. For all appearances it’s just a bigger version of the m15, but in practice it’s something entirely different. Sure they look the same, but the smaller one only really competes against other gaming laptops. The m17 feels built to take on all-comers. The size Bigger is usually better, but it’s also … well, bigger. Alienware and other manufacturers have wrestled with the giant end of gaming laptops for years, but only recently have we seen these new slimmed-down designs float towards the top of the power spectrum. And this means the m17 isn’t just for gamers with deep pockets.
What if I told you you’d get your next job by surviving on a deserted island? Or by thwarting a Dothraki invasion? Unfortunately, this isn’t a casting call for Game of Thrones. Gamification is getting ready to save us from that awkward pause after a recruiter sits back and says, “So tell me about yourself.” Not only will it make the hiring process more bearable, but a number of new startups also claim their recruitment games can help companies finally tackle unconscious bias. Why blind resume screening doesn’t work Humans are naturally biased. From a neurological perspective, every day we filter in tons of information.
I promised myself I wouldn’t call Starfinder “Dungeons and Dragons in space.” It feels lazy. Also, Spelljammer. What I will call it: the most inclusive major RPG I’ve played. And that makes it the perfect introduction to the magical world of tabletop role playing games. Yes, Starfinder is a tabletop RPG: you play it with books, dice, and friends. Most commonly it’s played by groups in person, however it can also be played using chat rooms, video conferencing apps, or dedicated tabletop gaming software. As Paizo, the company behind the game, puts it:
Vankyo’s Performance V600 projector is a $250 answer to the question “are there any projectors good enough to play video games in broad daylight without a screen that won’t cost me a ton of money?” More specifically it’s a native 1080p LED-light projector featuring 4,000 lux brightness, two HDMI-in ports, stereo speakers, and a crisp 300-inch viewing area. Judged solely on its specifications, it’s a fantastic projector for presentations in spaces where total darkness isn’t an option. But the picture brightness, quality, and audio fidelity are juuust good enough to make it feel like a decent little portable home theater for people who actually care about resolution.
202 years. That’s how long it will take to close the gender gap unless we speed up the process, says a recent report by the World Economic Forum. And looking at the statistics, this makes sense. A recent study by Pew Research found that the gender pay gap has narrowed but stayed relatively stable since… the 80s. Somehow, we’ve learned how to build self-driving cars and smartphones with more computing power than the first computers used in space travel, but we still haven’t figured out how to pay men and women equally.
It’s no secret that audiophiles and hi-fi enthusiasts are skeptical of wireless speakers. Sure, there are some successes – KEF’s LSX is a recent example – but wireless technology typically degrades sound quality at least a little, and almost certainly introduces some degree of latency. Hi-fi manufacturer Bowers & Wilkins claims to have solved these problems with its new Formation suite of wireless products. I had the chance to listen to the speakers, and they’re like Sonos on steroids. Expensive steroids. The Formation family consists of five products at launch. Formation Duo ($3,999): A futuristic-looking stereo pair that borrows drivers from B&W’s premium 700 and 800 series speakers, while incorporating DSP to further improve the sound.
I’m supposed to be packing up all the electronics I “won’t need until after the move.” What does that even mean? I need all of my electronics all of the time. Instead, I’m pretending to write a review of these Aukey smart outlets. I’m really just surfing Amazon and planning out our new smart home. Aukey makes everything from headphones to keyboards. I’ve come to expect a certain level of quality from its products – they usually aren’t the best, but they’re often the best value – and these smart outlets are no exception. They feel well-made, there’s nothing wrong with how they look, and they work as advertised.
Over the past 10 years cryptocurrency, blockchain, and art have become the most surprising and unlikely of bed fellows. Street art, graffitti, and memes are quite common, but the words cryptocurrency and fine art rarely appear in the same sentence. But that’s changing as one artist is making these worlds collide to produce something as individually unique as a Bitcoin wallet private key. Toronto-based fine artist – Nelly Baksht – is one of a growing community creating works specifically for the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry. But she hasn’t always been interested in the decentralized technology.
