Microsoft announced Windows 11 last year, but deploying the update to existing devices has been a slow process. In fact, Microsoft isn’t even providing the update on PCs that lack certain modern hardware features. Anyone who goes looking for a manual upgrade to Windows 11 might find themselves on the receiving end of a nasty malware attack, . A Russian website disguised as an official Microsoft page is distributing an “upgrade installer” that won’t get you Windows 11. What it will get you is a bunch of malware. The site in question is windows-upgraded[.com], and we strongly suggest you don’t visit it (you probably won’tbe able to as it appears to be decommissioned).
Samsung’s newest batch of Galaxy devices went on sale last week, and while most coverage focused on the S22 smartphone family, Samsung also has new flagship tablets. For years, Android tablets have been afterthoughts even for Google, which confirmed it was stepping away from tablet hardware after the Pixel Slate debacle. Yet, evidence is mounting that Android tablets are having a moment. The latest sign comes from , which says it is struggling to keep several versions of its upcoming Tab S8 family available. These three very expensive tablets went on sale alongside the S22, and people may actually want to buy them this time.
Despite how hard it’s become to purchase a GPU at anywhere near MSRP over the past two years, there was still one beacon of hope. Best Buy has been the sole distributor of Nvidia’s extremely reasonably priced Founder’s Edition cards, so if you got lucky and were able to add one to your cart, you could actually get an RTX 3080 for $699, for example. That’s a smokin’ deal, as those rare cards sell for around $2,000 on eBay. However, as of yesterday that beacon has been extinguished. Best Buy has seemingly locked all Nvidia GPUs behind an “exclusive” membership program called Totaltech, which costs $200 per year.
When Apple announced it was entering the “help me find my stuff” market with its innovative AirTags in 2021, they were heralded as an ingenious solution to a long-standing issue. They differed from previous products like Tile by using Apple’s own fleet of devices already out in the wild to help locate items, improving location accuracy. Unfortunately, they’ve also been put to more nefarious purposes. Thus far, Apple’s button-shaped location trackers have been used to and track people Unscrupulous individuals have begun selling AirTags with their . In light of all this bad press, this week Apple announced it was taking firm steps to prevent “unwanted tracking,” which it says it condemns in the strongest terms possible.
(Photo: Atomic Taco/Wikimedia Commons)Just months after teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Hertz is facing another self-made setback. In the face of hundreds of false arrest lawsuits, the car rental company has been ordered to reveal exactly how many customers it accuses of vehicle theft each year. Hertz’ most recent debacle started with a initiated late last year. The lawsuit claimed that the company had falsely reported rental cars as stolen, resulting in police stopping or even arresting at least 180 customers who’d actually turned in their rentals as previously agreed. (By now, that number is up to 230.
Once upon a time, “free” PC games came in two basic flavors: Flash and shareware. Free-to-play gaming didn’t start with mobile devices, but phones popularized this method of distribution. Today, there are more fun free PC games available than there ever were in the late 1990s or early 2000s. There are two basic types of “free” games, and we include both on our list. First, there are games that are literally free, with no content, skins, or alternate modes locked away. Second, you’ve got games that are free to play, but that place some kind of restriction on the game experience.
There was a bit of GPU controversy last month as both AMD and Nvidia released entry-level GPUs built on their latest platform. AMD released the RX 6500 XT, while Nvidia launched the RTX 3050. Nvidia came out ahead in that matchup thanks to superior performance and the fact that its GPU fielded 8GB of VRAM, while AMD’s offering was and offered a paltry 4GB of VRAM. Nvidia’s GPU cost $50 more and both price points are largely theoretical, but the RTX 3050 was judged the superior card overall. Now it appears Nvidia might be trying to match AMD’s low-price offering with its own 4GB card, which is an odd decision considering the amount of scorn heaped upon AMD’s latest GPU.
As is tradition, Google has dropped a new version of Android without warning. While most phones are still waiting to get Android 12, , codenamed Tiramisu. This software won’t be final for many months, but those with a Pixel phone can try out the developer preview for themselves. You probably shouldn’t though. This is a developer preview, so most of the new features are aimed at the people who make apps. Having access to the OS early lets them prepare for how Android will work later this year. Naturally, there are some privacy features planned. For example, the new photo picker API will allow apps to select images and video for sharing without getting access to all the other files on your device.
According to NASA, the Parker Solar Probe has taken the first images ever taken of Venus’ surface from orbit in visible light. While we’ve imaged the surface with other types of instruments, visible light hasn’t been available from orbit due to the thick cloud cover swirling over the planet. The surface shots we have of Venus in the visible spectrum come from a handful of Soviet probes in the 1970s and 1980s. NASA has previously released some data on these images, but it’s now confirmed that the Parker Solar Probe saw “through” Venus’ cloud layer and imaged the surface below.
