Tag: new technology 2024

Bitdefender Total Security review: Great, easy to use protection
At a Glance

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Superb antivirus and malware protection

Strong online threat protection

Customizable dashboard

Cons

VPN limited to 200MB per day, per device

Can have notable performance impact on some PCs

Anti-theft tools aren’t effective

Our Verdict

Bitdefender Total Security packs superb antivirus defenses into an easy-to-use app, giving it a strong edge despite a couple of features falling flat. In particular, its safe payment environment is a unique protection for sensitive online accounts — something that makes up for this suite’s lack of an included password manager.

Price When Reviewed

This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined

Best Pricing Today

PCWorld Software Store

$29.99

Best Prices Today: Total Security

PCWorld Software Store

$29.99

When you pay for software, the last thing you want are limits. And yet, Bitdefender Total Security imposes a rather surprising one on users: VPN use, commonly a part of mid-range antivirus suites, is restricted to a 200MB per-day limit per device.

It’s an odd ploy, given that rival services offer full, unrestricted VPN access, and sometimes a password manager subscription, too. But Bitdefender’s ace in the hole is its stellar protection, along with its easy-to-understand, yet still customizable interface. If you can forgive Total Security its occasional half-baked parts, it provides among the best defense against malware and online threats.

Further reading: See our roundup of the best antivirus software for Windows PCs to learn about competing products.

What does Bitdefender Total Security include?

Bitdefender Total Security offers broad protection against online threats, starting with antivirus, firewall, and ransomware. It also safeguards against network, web, and email issues like brute force attacks, malicious links, and dangerous attachments, as well as screens your local inbox for spam if you use Microsoft Outlook or Mozilla Thunderbird. It controls access to your webcam and microphone to prevent remote spying, too.

Bitdefender Total Security is the company’s mid-tier antivirus plan.

PCWorld / Bitdefender

For additional security and privacy, Total Security includes a secure browser, access to its VPN service (albeit limited), tracker blocking, parental controls, and a scanner that checks for system vulnerabilities. It also has anti-theft software tools to recover, lock down, or wipe an associated device. Rounding out the suite are set of utilities: a system optimizer, file shredder for secure deletion, and usage profiles.

You can install Bitdefender on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices, though not all features are supported on all platforms.

How much does Bitdefender Total Security cost?

The price of Bitdefender Total Security varies depending on the number of devices covered — though not by much. You can choose between a five-device plan and 10-device plan, which all let you install the software on Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices.

5-device plan

$70 for the first year

$100 per year thereafter

10-device plan

$73 for the first year

$110 per year thereafter

Bitdefender enrolls users into auto-renewal by default, though refunds are allowed up to 30 days after the automatic renewal date. The company also offers refunds within 30 days of the initial purchase of a subscription.

To save more money on Bitdefender, you can purchase through our own PCWorld software store, which currently offers 5-device, one-year licenses for just $29.99. Retailers like Newegg, B&H, and Amazon offer sizable discounts as well. For example, a 10-device, one-year plan was just $50 on Newegg at the time of this article’s publishing.

Key features of Bitdefender Total Security

Installation and user interface

Getting started with Bitdefender Total Security is simple and straightforward — the installation window even shows short explanations of different features as you wait. However, be careful when setting up your Bitdefender account, as you’re only asked to type in your password once. If you don’t use a password manager, that leaves you open to misremembering (or mistyping) it.

The Bitdefender app has a clean, simple interface, with big tiles for each feature. A shield icon in the upper-left corner serves as a status indicator; it’ll turn red when something requires attention. Along the left side of the window is access to the dashboard, features sorted by category (Protection, Privacy, and Utilities), notifications, and settings. The app works in conjunction with the Bitdefender Central website portal, where you’ll handle device management (which includes remote commands you can send to associated devices, like malware scans) and parental controls.

The Bitdefender dashboard.

PCWorld

In the dashboard, you’ll find six customizable shortcuts to different features, along with suggested action items at the top. The defaults are Quick Scan, System Scan, Vulnerability Scan, VPN, and Safepay, along with a blank tile.

Under Protection, you get access to the antivirus scanner, vulnerability scanner (which checks for weaknesses in your apps and network), and settings for online and advanced threat protections, firewall, spam screening, and ransomware safeguards.

From Privacy, you can start up the Safepay virtual environment or VPN, jump into parental controls (which are handled through the Bitdefender Central website), install the anti-tracker extension for supported browsers, and manage your webcam and microphone protection settings. You can also access Bitdefender’s password manager, but it’s a separate paid service and not included with the Total Security suite.

Within Utilities, you’ll find a link to Bitdefender’s anti-theft tools (managed through the Bitdefender Central website), the optimizer scanner that hunts for temporary and other disposable files, activity profiles (which let you easily change Bitdefender’s behavior to align with how you’re using the computer — e.g., gaming vs. work), and a file shredder for securely deleting files from hard-disk drives (HDD).

The Notification section within the Bitdefender app.

PCWorld

Notifications show a running log of Bitdefender’s findings as it monitors your system, organized by urgency level. These differ from the pop-up notifications Bitdefender shows within Windows, which appear at the bottom right of your screen and typically promote other Bitdefender services. One such alert even went as far as to warn me about a LinkedIn data leak from two years ago, in order to suggest signing up for Bitdefender’s Digital Identity Protection service. Fortunately, you can turn off “special offers” in the app settings.)

Overall, Bitdefender errs on the side of ease-of-use, giving users a moderate number of settings for the app and per feature. The descriptions of features are also generalized and not very technical.

Virus, malware, and threat protection

Real-time protection

Bitdefender stays on constant alert for potential threats to your PC. On the computer itself, it scans opened or added files, monitors apps for suspicious activity, and screens downloaded email for spam, sketchy links, and dangerous attachments. It specifically looks out for apps that try to encrypt your files, too — when not initiated by you, such behavior is likely ransomware trying to hold your data hostage.

Meanwhile, whenever you’re browsing online, Bitdefender screens for malicious downloads, phishing and fraud attempts, encrypted websites with invalid or bogus certificates, and bad search results. It also blocks unauthorized incoming access to your PC, unauthorized use of your webcam and microphone, and online web trackers (when you install the company’s anti-tracking browser extension). You can additionally pair the program with the company’s free TrafficLight browser extension, which adds icons to search results marking them safe or risky.

Scheduled and manual scans

In an unusual move, Bitdefender does not automatically perform regular scans. To run a Quick Scan and/or System Scan at a scheduled time, you must edit those default scans — or instead create a custom scan. The process is not intuitive, either. You must open the edit screen and click the Next button before the option to Choose when to schedule this task appears.

You must first pass through an unrelated settings screen to reach scheduling options for a scan.

PCWorld

You can then choose between four intervals — daily, weekly, monthly, or at system startup. Daily lets you set a time; Monthly lets you set which day of the month and a time; and Weekly lets you choose a day of the week and a time.

For manual scans, you can run Quick Scan, which focuses on critical files and processes; System Scan, which combs through your entire system; or a custom scan you’ve created. Quick Scan and System Scan can also be initiated through the Bitdefender Central website — though you won’t see signs of activity on the device. For this reason, I preferred starting my scans directly on the PC I was using.

Running System Scan can be slow during its first run, as Bitdefender takes stock of everything on your PC, but it speeds up afterward. (By default, the app scans only new and changed files.) You can also right-click on individual folders and files, and then choose Bitdefender > Scan with Bitdefender to check them out.

Most users will be best off with Bitdefender’s default antivirus settings, but you can tweak the thoroughness of scans.

PCWorld

Bitdefender allows you to adjust settings for scans — for example, you can choose to have the software always screen all files, even if they haven’t been changed since your last scan. You don’t get a ton of tweaks, but it’s more than competitors like McAfee and Norton (which go for an ultra-simplified vibe) offer.

Vulnerability scanner

In addition to scanning for viruses, malware, ransomware, and online threats, Bitdefender can check your PC’s app, system files, and network settings for exploitable weaknesses. (Attackers use these openings to compromise your device and/or data.) Found under Protection > Vulnerability, the tool hunts for weak Windows user passwords, critical Windows updates not yet installed, changes to Windows and network settings that could let malicious behavior slip past, outdated apps, Wi-Fi network and router settings that could be strengthened, and more.

Like the antivirus scans, you can remotely initiate a vulnerability scan through the Bitdefender Central website.

Bitdefender’s Vulnerability Scan hunts for weaknesses on your PC that malware and other threats could exploit.

PCWorld

Firewall

Bitdefender takes over firewall duties completely for Windows — and though most people are best off leaving it alone with default settings, you can customize how stringent the rules are and whether those rules change based on the type of connection you’re on. Bitdefender sends users a notification whenever a potentially malicious app tries to access the internet. I didn’t notice any overzealousness on Bitdefender’s part while using my test PC, and the settings are nicely streamlined without being too simplified.

Scam protection

Bitdefender recently released a free service called Scamio, an AI-driven chatbot designed to help verify the legitimacy of email, text messages, instant messages, links, and QR codes. To get started, you must head to scamio.bitdefender.com (login required) or Meta’s Messenger app. Then you’ll upload a screenshot, copy/paste into the chat, or simply describe the situation to the bot.

As a very basic second opinion, Scamio isn’t bad, though its analysis can take longer than expected. I liked that it can easily extract links from screenshot — a much safer method, since trying to copy/paste can lead to an accidental click. It also seems to err on the side of caution, dismissing my attempt at sweet nothings as a potential scam.

Phew, PCWorld got the greenlight.

PCWorld

That said, if you want hands-off help for text messages, you should also install Bitdefender on your mobile phone. So long as you’re comfortable with the permissions it requests (which go pretty deep), it will automatically screen your chat messages and notifications for potential scams.

VPN

Bitdefender Total Security includes access to its VPN for multiple devices, but there’s one huge catch — each piece of gear is allotted a paltry 200MB of bandwidth per day. (You can burn through that by browsing just a few websites.) You’re only allowed to connect to the nearest server, too.

Bitdefender Total Security includes VPN access, but you get an extremely low amount of allowed traffic.

PCWorld

In Bitdefender’s favor is a sleek, easily navigated interface — I particularly like how important information and stats are laid out clearly. But with free, reputable VPN services offering much more bandwidth and letting you choose a location when connecting, paying for Bitdefender Premium VPN to get unlimited bandwidth and access to servers in all 55 supported countries just doesn’t feel worth it. Not when the cost is $40 for the first year and $70 per year thereafter.

Parental controls

Bitdefender Total Security includes parental controls, which are managed through the Bitdefender Central website. On PC, you can limit screen time, apps used, and websites visited. Android and iOS devices also allow guardians to see location and phone contacts.

To begin on a PC, you’ll first install Bitdefender on it. For mobile devices, you’ll need to install the dedicated Bitdefender Parental Control app. Then on Bitdefender Central, you’ll create a profile for your child and assign the computer, phone, or tablet to the profile.

Bitdefender’s parental controls are simple but laid out clearly.

PCWorld

From there, you can add time limits and create schedules for blocked use, as well as manage which applications and websites can be accessed. For apps, you can only limit apps your child has already used. However, for websites, you can block or allow by categories, which are predetermined by Bitdefender. By default, children can visit sites within just 13 of the 43 presets, such as “search engines,” “webmail,” “computers and software,” and “travel.” News is forbidden, which put PCWorld.com on the ban list. (Guess we’re not enough about computers and software.)

As your kid spends time on their device, you’ll see their usage statistics appear in the dashboard’s charts. The dashboard also shows location tracking, which works quite well — the phone used for testing appeared with close accuracy to the physical location. (The suggested addresses were not correct, however.) Phone contacts display here as well, and automatically update whenever a new contact is added.

Additional features

Anti-Theft

Bitdefender Total Security’s anti-theft tools are fantastic in theory, letting you remotely locate, lock, or wipe your device. For a smartphone, you can also remotely trigger an alarm and/or send a push notification with a message to whomever has it.

But in practice, I found this feature to fall flat. For example, my test laptop’s location wasn’t precisely accurate — not surprising, since it was based off of the IP address. Meanwhile, my smartphone’s whereabouts never showed up. Locking the devices also didn’t work particularly well, either. If the person holding your phone knows your PIN, you’re out of luck. The PIN you set via Bitdefender Central doesn’t override that.

Bitdefender’s anti-theft tools don’t fully deliver on the promise.

PCWorld

The only part that worked as advertised was the remote alert sound, along with the push notification. That only helps with smartphones, though, and you’ll have to trust that you can annoy someone into doing the right thing.

Browser extensions

Bitdefender has two browser extensions worth calling out, though neither are locked to the Total Security suite. The Anti-Tracker extension is automatically installed along with the Bitdefender app, where you can also manage its installation if you install another browser on your PC later on. (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Internet Explorer are supported — though if you’re on an operating system that can still run Internet Explorer, it’s time to upgrade). It keeps trackers from collecting data on you, and lets you manage this type of information for websites you visit.

Bitdefender TrafficLight checks websites for phishing attempts and malware, blocks potentially dangerous elements on websites, and adds visual cues to search results labeling them as safe or risky. Available as a Chrome and Firefox extension, this add-on isn’t necessary, but its search-result visual warnings can be helpful.

Bitdefender’s Anti-Tracker extension automatically gets installed for browsers already on your PC.

File Shredder

Bitdefender’s secure delete feature lets you permanently remove files from your PC — provided they’re stored on a hard-disk drive (HDD). Total Security’s File Shredder feature uses the Department of Defense 5520.22-M three-pass method to “shred” your data, which works on HDDs but isn’t as effective on solid-state drives (SSDs). In fact, this way of deleting data can shorten the life of an SSD.

With most laptops now using SSDs, this feature will only be useful if you have an external HDD you store sensitive documents on. But Bitdefender is equal to rival antivirus software in this regard.

OneClick Optimizer

This utility hunts for Windows files, registry items, and internet files it can nuke — all in the name of tuning up your PC. But while OneClick Optimizer can quickly wipe away seemingly unnecessary data, it shares little detail about what gets tossed. That’s a big problem for anything related to your registry — a place where even seasoned PC users tread cautiously. (And in general, you should always know what you’re deleting.)

If OneClick Optimizer listed what it gets rid of, perhaps I would have ended up less wary of it. But it only names three categories (Software Locations, Shared DLLs, and Help files) and how many “issues” found in each.

You don’t get nearly enough information about what Bitdefender wants to do in Windows’ registry.

PCWorld

Given how vague the tool is overall, I still recommend Windows’ built-in Disk Cleanup app and purging browsing data in the app itself. This method leaves the registry alone and lets you have much more control, while only being slightly more cumbersome.

Safepay

Safepay is a sandboxed browser — that is, a secure environment for accessing sensitive websites, kept separate from everything else running in Windows. Bitdefender promotes this feature as meant for bank websites, and if you navigate to a known banking site, you’ll see a pop-up asking if you want to load it in Safepay.

Within this isolated desktop is a browser with a similar feel as Chrome, but far more bare-bones. You get no extensions and few settings. However, it offers a virtual keyboard, which is a bit cumbersome but useful for those concerned about keyloggers.

You can use Safepay with most websites, though videos don’t play. Also, Bitdefender doesn’t react to all common financial or sensitive websites — for example, I didn’t see the pop up for irs.gov nor less common banks in the U.S. You’ll have to open Safepay and navigate there yourself.

A suggestion to use Safepay appears when you visit some banking websites.

PCWorld

Customer support

Should you ever need assistance with Bitdefender, the app contains a help page, which you can access by clicking the life-preserver icon in the upper top-right of the window. It offers direct links to Bitdefender’s support website (which includes video tutorials), community forums, and even a full user guide. You can also contact the company by email, chat, or phone.

Updates and maintenance

You can change update frequency in general app settings.

By default, updates run automatically in the background once per hour. You can stretch this frequency to once every 24 hours (with adjustments available in hourly increments). If for some reason you’re on a limited internet connect, you can turn off automatic updates, but your PC will be better protected if you leave it on.

Bitdefender also allows you to run updates in the foreground, so that you see when they happen. However, it does not let users perform manual checks for updates.

Performance

Bitdefender takes top marks in independent tests performed by security research institutes. In AV-Test’s zero-day attack and malware tests for November and December 2024 (the most current results released by the organization), Bitdefender caught 100 percent of the 389 zero-day attack samples and 12,159 widespread and prevalent malware samples.

Meanwhile in AV-Comparatives’ real-world protection test for July through October 2024, Bitdefender detected 99.6 percent of the 471 test cases, with five false positives. (A false positive is when the antivirus software blocks a legitimate download or website.) The samples were a combination of drive-by downloads, malicious web addresses, and URLs linking directly to malware.

AV-Comparatives’ real-world test results for July through October 2024.

AV-Comparatives

Similarly, Bitdefender ranked high in AV-Comparatives’ September 2024 malware protection test. Of the 16 antivirus programs tested, Bitdefender scored a 94.3 percent online detection rate, 99.98 percent online protection rate, and 94.3 offline detection rate, with five false positives. Even when you don’t have an active internet connection, you’re well-protected. Only a handful of other antivirus programs had similarly high marks across the board.

In AV-Comparatives’ October 2024 Advanced Threat Protection Test, Bitdefender detected 13 of the 15 threats, putting it in a solid second place compared to the six other companies that participated in the evaluation. This test checks to see how well an antivirus suite handles more sophisticated, targeted threats like malicious scripts and fileless attacks.

AV-Comparatives’ malware test results for September 2024.

AV-Comparatives

When idle in the background, Bitdefender generally has a light impact on system performance. Its effect was minimal when our test laptop encoded a large video into a smaller 1080p30 file (our Handbrake benchmark), and during PCMark 10’s simulation of video conferencing, web browsing, and editing in open-source image and document programs. However, Bitdefender’s impact crept up when document editing in Microsoft Office apps like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, with UL Procyon test scores falling by about 9.5 percent.

When running a heavy scan, Bitdefender can notably affect performance on mid-range and budget PCs — even when set to “low” impact in its settings. Blasting a continuous full scan while running each benchmark dropped PCMark 10 scores by almost 20 percent and UL Procyon results by a sizable 35 percent. Handbrake encodes were less affected, with a 10 percent increase in time needed.

However, while these performance decreases sound scary, they’re a reflection of the hardest strain on your PC. I forced Bitdefender to scan the files as if they’d never been checked before, in order to see how hard it would hit our test laptop. But by default, the app only scans new and changed files (as common among antivirus software these days), which reduces the effort needed to check over your PC. For many people, your experience likely will be closer to the idle performance (as outlined above), unless you often work with large batches of fresh or altered files.

Is Bitdefender Total Security worth it?

Bitdefender Total Security offers top-notch protection in an easy-to-use app. Its main weaknesses are the limitations of a couple of features, like VPN access and Anti-Theft tools, and the questionable usefulness of its OneClick Optimizer utility. But even though rivals like Norton give more bang for the buck, this antivirus software delivers on what matters most, which is keeping your PC (and other devices) safe. Just don’t pay for the 5-device license when you can get the 10-device one for only a few dollars more.
February 9, 2025
Nvidia DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction Analysis: Fixing Ugly Ray Tracing Noise
Ray tracing is typically seen as a trade-off between visuals and performance – enhancing lighting realism at the cost of FPS. However, there’s a second trade off that is talked about less: noise.

I recently dedicated a video to discuss just this because there are games that don’t use a high enough resolution for their effects, others with noticeable surface grain, heavy denoising that results in surface boiling, or games where ray tracing hurts texture quality to the extremes of causing noticeable responsiveness issues with lighting.

All of these problems end up hurting what is supposed to be a technology that improves visual quality.

What is Ray Reconstruction?

Partly acknowledging this, Nvidia launched DLSS Ray Reconstruction back in 2023 to address many of these issues. As an AI-based denoiser for ray-traced games, it did offer some improvements in sharpening certain effects, but issues with noise and loss of detail remained in common scenarios.

Nvidia has now updated Ray Reconstruction as part of its DLSS 4 technology suite. The DLSS 4 version replaces the old convolutional neural network (CNN) with a new transformer model.

Essentially, this is a larger, higher-quality AI model with further tuning to improve denoising quality. Does this updated version address many of my complaints about ray tracing noise? Well, it’s time to find out.

The good news about DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction is that it’s available on all Nvidia RTX GPUs, unlike Multi Frame Generation, which is exclusive to the GeForce 50 series. While the new transformer AI model is larger and more performance-taxing depending on the GPU architecture, it doesn’t require any specific architectural component – just Tensor cores – so compatibility remains the same as DLSS 3-era Ray Reconstruction.

As you’ll see later, the performance hit isn’t the same across every GPU generation, but at least it works all the way back to the GeForce 20 series.

Like other DLSS 4 technologies, there are two ways to access DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction. Either it’s integrated into the game itself, as seen in titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Hogwarts Legacy, or you can override a DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction game to use the DLSS 4 version instead via Nvidia’s driver override feature.

Either way, a game must already support Ray Reconstruction, but this allows most Ray Reconstruction-enabled games to be instantly upgraded to the latest version. Outside of this, third-party tools like DLSS Swapper and DLSS Updater can upgrade DLSS 3 games to DLSS 4.

For the image quality analysis in this article (watch the video), I’ll be directly comparing DLSS 3 vs. DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction across several examples. To do this, I’ve taken DLSS 4 games and manually downgraded them to DLSS 3.7.20 Ray Reconstruction – the most recent version prior to DLSS 4 – while keeping everything else the same. This allows us to isolate the impact of Ray Reconstruction improvements.

In some games, it’s possible to switch between the transformer and CNN models for Ray Reconstruction without swapping the DLLs, but this usually affects both the ray reconstruction and upscaling components at the same time.

I wanted to keep the Super Resolution model at the DLSS 4 level while changing only Ray Reconstruction, which is why I used a downgrade method for comparison. The examples in this video were captured at 4K using a GeForce RTX 5090.

DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction Image Quality

Let’s start with the good stuff. DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction is a significant improvement in stability. In particular, many surfaces are less prone to boiling with the new version, eliminating one of the ugly side effects of weak denoising.

In Star Wars Outlaws, for example, a game prone to boiling with DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction – the new DLSS 4 version shows huge improvements in surface stability. On the left, DLSS 3 causes a completely stationary surface to bubble when it shouldn’t, whereas on the right, DLSS 4 is much cleaner. It’s not 100% free of this artifact but is significantly reduced. In fact, in other areas of the image, stability improves to near-perfect levels.

For a better representation of image quality comparisons, check out the HUB video below:

In other examples, like Cyberpunk 2077, this improvement is most noticeable in motion. There’s less bubbling as denoised ray-traced effects move, giving them greater stability and consistency from frame to frame. This is especially noticeable on some globally illuminated surfaces, where DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction brings a significant improvement.

The new version is cleaner in motion and resolves a decent level of detail more quickly. In some cases, the difference in quality is night and day – so much so that DLSS 3 can look like the game is running at a lower resolution. And keep in mind, this is denoising, not upscaling, which remains the same in both examples. Changes in exposure are also much less likely to cause brief boiling, indicating that the new transformer model handles lighting adjustments better.

At times, this increase in stability combines with better denoising to produce higher-resolution reflections. In the Alan Wake II example, metal reflections show boiling with DLSS 3, but switching to DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction reduces it, making the reflection appear higher resolution since edges are more defined and consistent in motion.

There’s also the classic fan example that Nvidia used to demonstrate DLSS 4, and we can confirm that this is a real benefit in games. As the fan spins, revealing the roof behind each blade, DLSS 4 is much more stable, reducing both boiling and ghosting.

Again, this is ghosting caused by denoising, not upscaling. Rippling water surfaces also benefit from DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction – often a source of noise – but the new version does a better job of smoothing these details without introducing additional issues.

One of the major issues with the original Ray Reconstruction technology was its inability to resolve texture detail on surfaces that also required denoising. In these cases, Ray Reconstruction prioritized smoothing noise over preserving textures, leading to blurry, muddy surfaces. In many instances, DLSS 4 is a major improvement in this area.

For example, in Cyberpunk 2077, when looking at some shiny tiles, DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction removes much of the marbling and surface detail, whereas DLSS 4 retains texture detail. This applies to both stationary and moving scenes, and in both cases, DLSS 4 is a clear upgrade in texture quality. In fact, the motion example looks horrible and extremely blurry with DLSS 3, whereas with DLSS 4, it looks much more like a 4K image.

This improvement extends to other games like Star Wars Outlaws, where the combination of reduced boiling and better texture preservation results in significantly higher-quality surfaces across the game world. In the Alan Wake II elevator door example, DLSS 3 completely hides the fact that the surface is brushed metal, but DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction restores this detail along with other benefits.

Here’s another example in Cyberpunk 2077, where the roof of the car retains clearer textures in motion with DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction compared to previous versions. Similar benefits can be seen on various surfaces throughout the game.

It’s impressive how much DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction improves surface stability, resolution, and detail – and how bad prior versions of denoising can look in comparison. Denoising that blurs textures and causes boiling is not a real solution – effective denoising should preserve detail as well, and we’re getting much closer to that with DLSS 4.

The Downsides of Ray Reconstruction

DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction isn’t perfect though. Some areas haven’t improved much over DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction, and in certain cases, there are actually regressions, which isn’t great. For example, in the three main games we tested – all of which have native DLSS 4 integrations – we noticed that DLSS 4 could occasionally introduce strange surface artifacts.

In Star Wars Outlaws, stationary ray-traced effects sometimes display a grid pattern. We’ve zoomed in for clarity, but it’s also visible at a normal viewing distance on a 32-inch 4K panel. A similar issue appears in Cyberpunk 2077, though less frequently, usually in globally illuminated areas.

We also noticed some cases where DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction reduced texture quality, separate from the previous issue. About 80% of the time, texture quality is noticeably better, but in the remaining 20%, textures can become blurrier or more smoothed out. For example, in Alan Wake II, the scene below shows improved textures in one area but worse textures in a darker section.

Fortunately, in most cases, this regression isn’t enough to hurt overall image quality compared to DLSS 3, as the majority of the image sees improvements – especially in terms of boiling and surface artifacts. However, some tweaks to the model are necessary to ensure texture quality is consistently preserved along with denoising.

Ray Reconstruction also still suffers from a noticeable difference in clarity between stationary shots and motion – where standing still always results in a higher-quality image than when moving.

This is, of course, due to how denoising works: if there are no changes between frames, denoising can temporally accumulate and resolve a higher level of detail. But when there are changes, achieving similar detail levels becomes much harder. Still, we would have liked to see more improvements in this area.

The reality is that when you stop moving, after a second or two, Ray Reconstruction appears to slowly “load in” higher-quality surfaces. It isn’t actually loading anything – it’s just the temporal system benefiting more and more from the lack of motion during that time.

But when actually gaming, this can be noticeable, especially because in some instances, as soon as you take a step or move the camera, the overall render quality decreases. Now, DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction in motion is certainly superior to DLSS 3, but in this area, it seems to work in basically the same way.

Since there’s still quite a bit of temporal accumulation happening, there haven’t been major improvements to the responsiveness of the denoiser. It still takes a few frames to fully respond to lighting changes, which can create a floaty feeling when moving around and looking at reflections or illumination on surfaces.

The quality of each step in the accumulation and resolution process is improved, but the number of temporal samples being used for denoising seems quite similar to previous iterations. This still causes issues in games that don’t use a particularly high ray count for ray tracing. So this pet peeve we have with the responsiveness of ray-traced lighting persists even with DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction.

Performance Testing

As for performance, DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction is more taxing than DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction. We tested four different graphics cards using the latest version compared to DLSS 3, focusing solely on the impact of Ray Reconstruction, not upscaling. For each GPU, we adjusted the settings to something realistically playable while maintaining a similar output frame rate.

GeForce RTX 5090

Starting with the GeForce RTX 5090, we tested at 4K with DLSS Quality enabled, typically using the highest in-game settings. This results in around 60 FPS in Alan Wake II and Cyberpunk 2077, or a higher 90 FPS in Star Wars Outlaws.

Using DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction caused a 4% hit in Alan Wake II, a 5% hit in Cyberpunk 2077, and a 7% hit in Outlaws. So, not an insignificant impact, but quite worthwhile given the image quality is generally much better.

GeForce RTX 4070 Super

The RTX 4070 Super is less powerful and uses the previous-generation Ada Lovelace architecture. To run these games at around 60 FPS, we had to drop to 1440p with DLSS Quality and slightly lower the presets as well.

But despite these changes, the impact from DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction is quite similar to the RTX 5090: a 4% hit in Alan Wake II, a 6% hit in Cyberpunk 2077, and a 6% hit in Outlaws. Based on this, it’s safe to say the Tensor cores in Blackwell and Ada are good enough to run the new transformer model at an acceptable performance cost.

GeForce RTX 3090

The RTX 3090 is roughly equivalent to an RTX 4070 Super in ray tracing performance, so we used the exact same settings for both GPUs. The main difference here is the architecture. What was interesting to note is that the 3090 suffers from a greater hit when using DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction: an 18% loss to FPS in both Alan Wake II and Cyberpunk 2077.

Interestingly, there is no performance impact in Star Wars Outlaws, but this is because it seems like the game forces the use of the CNN model on generations prior to the 40 series. Unlike the other two games, there is no option to switch between models – the game does it for you. In this instance, it chooses Transformer for the 40 and 50 series and CNN for the 30 and 20 series, hence no impact between DLSS 3 and 4 in Outlaws on the RTX 3090.

The most likely explanation for the performance difference between Ampere and Ada Lovelace is the difference in Tensor core architecture, with Ada supporting a wider range of precisions that are potentially being utilized here.

GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

As for Turing with the RTX 2080 Ti, this GPU is really only suitable for low-quality ray tracing today. We had to dial back the settings to 1080p with DLSS Quality and the lowest quality settings. In Alan Wake II, we saw a 27% FPS reduction using DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction vs. DLSS 3, and a 32% reduction in Cyberpunk 2077.

This makes it hard to recommend the use of the newer model on older 20 series GPUs, though it’s unclear how much it matters given the overall ray tracing performance of these cards.

What We Learned

Overall, we were quite impressed testing DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction – certainly much more impressed than when testing Multi-Frame Generation. The new transformer model generally results in a significant increase in visual quality. There are major improvements to stability, surface boiling, texture preservation, and overall detail, which help deliver better ray-traced surfaces.

Using this technology makes ray tracing feel like less of a downgrade in detail, minimizing the “visual cost” of achieving better lighting quality and accuracy. A lot of these surface and detail issues were clear problems with DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction and other denoising methods used in today’s ray-traced games. It’s nice to get ray-traced lighting, but the noise can be pretty distracting in some games, giving the presentation a soupy, low-resolution look, especially in motion.

DLSS 4 is a big step in the right direction toward improving how ray-traced games look, and in all the games we tested, we were much happier with the DLSS 4 output.

While it is quite an impressive improvement that should be instantly noticeable in games, I wouldn’t say it’s “fixed” all of my ray tracing noise complaints. DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction still has some surface boiling in worst case scenarios, there’s still a noticeable difference in detail between standing still and motion, and it still struggles to be responsive and high quality when ray counts are low. There’s also a few regressions compared to DLSS 3, like the occasional weird artifact and some reductions to texture quality.

But for the most part, it’s worth using – especially on RTX 50 and RTX 40 series GPUs, where the performance impact relative to DLSS 3 seems to be around 5%. It struggles more on Ampere-based RTX 30 GPUs but could still be worth using, while on RTX 20 series cards, you can basically forget about it due to both the performance cost and the lack of ray tracing performance in modern games. It’s great to see Nvidia delivering this sort of update without locking it to a specific GPU generation, allowing as many people as possible to benefit.

We do have a couple of recommendations for game developers based on this testing. First, if you’re developing a ray-traced game, consider integrating DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction. There are some other good denoising solutions in games, but often they’re pretty lackluster and create a bad output. The quality from DLSS 4 is great, and there are far fewer downsides compared to DLSS 3 Ray Reconstruction.

Second, we recommend allowing gamers to choose the model used for upscaling and ray reconstruction separately. In Cyberpunk 2077 and Alan Wake II, you can choose between the CNN and Transformer models, but this applies to both upscaling and denoising together. Separating those options would allow for more performance fine-tuning, especially on older GPUs like Ampere, where ray reconstruction can be taxing.

Nvidia also needs to keep working on this technology because there’s room for improvement with more training and tweaks. The weird artifacts need fixing, and a stronger focus on responsiveness would be nice to reduce that gap in quality between standing still and motion.

Shopping Shortcuts:
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 on Amazon
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 5090 on Amazon
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX on Amazon
- Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 Super on Amazon
- AMD Radeon RX 7800 XT on Amazon
- AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT on Amazon
February 9, 2025
Best Printer for 2025 – CNET
Printers? Today, this technology might seem a little obsolete when nearly all forms, documents and the like are available digitally. But a good printer can be a useful member of your workspace setup, especially when you need a hard copy of concert tickets, homework or photos. Many printers even have scanners onboard that come in handy for the reverse, digitizing what’s most important. Though printers might not be the flashiest or must-have tech, there are still plenty of great options. Thankfully, I’ve been testing the latest printers for a while now, often running dozens of machines simultaneously. It’s noisy, but the best overall options always cut through the chaos.

What is the best printer overall?

In this roundup, you’ll find printers capable of mobile printing and wireless printing from a phone or any PC, Mac or Chromebook. You can also print over a cabled connection and via wireless printer connectivity. (Note that some, but not all, printers support Apple’s AirPrint and Google’s Cloud Print protocols, which are usually less onerous than the printer vendors’ proprietary systems.) Some of the printers here go beyond the standard options. We’ve included thermal label printers, sublimation printers, and even DTF printers to offer a well-rounded selection for your printing needs.

For a home office with just one or two people using it, the HP OfficeJet Pro 9125e is the best overall choice. The print speed was excellent, and all the printed words were crisp and clear. This isn’t a photo printer, and it shows, but it works well enough for daily imagery tasks. If you’re using it to print brochures or Word documents, this is an almost perfect printer for you.

Best printers of 2025

Photo Gallery 1/1

If you work from home but need all the advantages of an office printer, the OfficeJet Pro is an excellent choice. In terms of sheer printing speed, the HP is ahead of most others in its price range. It printed the 10 pages in just 32 seconds and scanned and printed them in 58 seconds. Very impressive.

The last model had some issues with graphics and imagery, but this new upgrade is much better. The graphics in the brochure test were sharp and accurate, and the images, while being a little dotty, still looked great. The text was excellent, with clearly defined edges, even the Comic Sans parts. It’s a bit larger than some of the printers I tested, but the deep paper tray and auto-feed for the scanner make the size worthwhile.
Of the printers I’ve tested so far, the OfficeJet Pro is the most versatile. It also comes with three months of free ink, based on a standard usage if you sign up for HP Plus. While HP Plus does give you some extra helpful app choices for free and the ink, the downside is you can only use HP inks while subscribed to it.
Photo Gallery 1/1

With this HP Envy 6458E wireless all-in-one printer, you’ll pick up a home printing center that covers all the basics. Print, scan, and copy everyday documents for school, work, and side gigs simply and wirelessly. Intuitive setup with the HP Smart app means you’re ready on any device.

Includes the HP Envy 6458E wireless all-in-one printer, an HP 67 tri-color ink cartridge, and an HP 67 black ink cartridge.

Print, scan, and copy

Built-in Wi-Fi

35-page auto document feeder

Prints up to 10 pages per minute black, and up to 7 ppm color

Automatic two-sided printing

HP Smart app

Measures 6.8 by 14.2 by 17 inches
Photo Gallery 1/1

First off, this is not a typical printer machine. The bulky square shape is not something you would want to see in a fashionable home office. It is solidly constructed, though, and unlike some of the other products in this price range, it doesn’t have any creaky plastic pieces. It’s built well and it shows.

Because of the extra paper tray, the Epson can hold a large amount of paper for use. This makes it perfect if you and another person use it daily. It prints fast too — the fastest in our test, though the scanning is a little slow. The graphic, text, and webpage text were all excellent, though the image quality on glossy paper was only good. This is a workhorse though, designed for high-volume text, not imagery.

My only real issue with the Workforce Pro was the size of the ink cartridges. It’s great that there are two large paper trays to hold a lot of paper, but if the amount of ink you have doesn’t match, then you’ll have a problem.

Photo Gallery 1/1

The Brother MFC-J1010DW is a terrible name for a pretty good printer in this price bracket. Photos came out clear and sharp as did the graphics on the website and brochure test. Even the text was very sharp. For an all-in-one printer at this price, it did every job well. It’s good that it has Amazon dash replenishment, though, as the inks are woefully undersized for the printer.

Photo Gallery 1/1

DTF printing is a fairly new technology that combines the color choices of screen printing with the ease of heat transfer vinyl, which you might see on a Cricut vinyl cutter. To use it, you print a full-color image onto a special film, cover the back in a special powder, and cook it in a small oven to create an adhesive layer. From there, you use a heat press to seal it into an item of clothing or other surface. Procolored makes several DTF printers, with the Panda F8 being a more consumer-friendly version than their other, larger machines. It works very well to make small batches or products, so using the Panda F8 to print unique clothing items for your Etsy store is better than using a Cricut or sublimation printer, especially for shirts that are not white.

My biggest issue with the Panda F8 is the need for it to be in constant use. The ink delivery system is unstable, so it needs constant use to keep it from getting stale. That’s fine if you have a lot of orders, but if you don’t, you’ll need to print stuff anyway to keep it going.

Photo Gallery 1/1

The Canon Pixma TR4720 isn’t going to be winning any awards in any category. In all of my testing, it came out around the middle of the pack in just about every category. While that could be seen as a negative in a printer that costs several hundred dollars, for one that is as cheap as the Pixma, it’s encouraging.

The Pixma scored better in color reproduction when placed against other, more expensive all-in-one printers when printing on glossy paper. Some printers suffer from dimpling when printing images, but the Pixma didn’t and the skin tones were far better on the Canon image than on other brands. My only real negative is the machine’s volume. You can tell it was built on a budget, but as far as budget printers go, this one’s pretty good.

Photo Gallery 1/1

HP’s latest Smart Tank is a midlevel all-in-one with some really nice features and a few that are missing. In all our tests, it did very well, especially the website printing test, where all the graphics were as crisp and clear as the text. The image test was good too, though not as good as that of the more expensive Smart Tank 7301. The colors were vivid, and there was no sign of chromatic abrasion. There was a little grain in the image, but nothing that better paper couldn’t fix.

My big bugbear with the 5101 is the rear-loading paper tray. It makes the printer deeper than a standard shelf, limiting where it can be put. It also limits the amount of paper it can store to just a few sheets, making it less than ideal for a larger workload. The lack of a scanner feeder on the top also slows you down, forcing you to scan each document a single page at a time.

Overall the 5101 is a good choice if you want excellent color recreation at a reasonable price. And because it’s an ink tank system, the ink should last at least a year.

Photo Gallery 1/1

I love a tool that is for one purpose, and it does that purpose almost perfectly. The Nelko thermal printer is specifically designed to print labels for packages — though it does print other labels, too — and if, like me, you have an Etsy or Shopify store, it can be invaluable.

Most of the tests I’ve designed for this article don’t apply to the Nelko, though the print speed per page is shockingly fast, so it is not comparable to the other printers here. It’s also at the top of the pack of the thermal printers I’ve tested. The app-controlled Bluetooth connection makes it even easier to print shipping labels. Simply purchase them through Etsy on your phone and print them using the app. You can even crop the image to remove the white space. It’s so simple I should have bought one years ago.

My only gripe with the Nelko is the lack of roller hooks. I like that the printer is small, but there is no room for a roll of thermal stickers, limiting you to single sheets, or jury-rigging something to fit.

Photo Gallery 1/1

Sublimation is the process of transferring ink from paper to other materials like t-shirts, mugs, and canvases. There are plenty of options if you are looking to convert a standard printer to use sublimation ink, but if possible, you should buy a dedicated printer like the Brother SP1 for the job.

Brother has recently entered the sublimation market with the SP1, and it’s a pretty impressive offering. Like all modern printers, it has Wi-Fi printing, and, using the Artspira app on your phone or tablet, you can create really great layouts for printing just about any design on anything you can heat press. I appreciate how easy it is to use, though I wish the inks were a little bigger. The price is excellent for a sublimation printer too.

Photo Gallery 1/1

After testing the Expression, I was pleasantly surprised at how well this printer did. Being Epson’s budget option it could have been poor, but instead performed excellently at text reproduction and about average on the image quality. The setup was quick and easy and the Wi-Fi connection seems to be solid wherever I put it in my house. Print time was average at 1 minute, 15 seconds, but the text quality more than made up for the speed. All of the text, even the photocopied text was legible and smooth.

The only downside is how small the ink cartridges are on this printer. I know ink is where companies make the most money, but replacing these tiny cartridges every few weeks or months will get old quickly.

Not all the printers we test make it to the top table. Some of them are good but don’t quite make the top of our list, some we replaced with a new version, and some are so bad that we omitted them entirely. Here are some of the home printers that nearly made it or have been on the best list but replaced by different models.

Show more

Photo Gallery 1/1

The Sawgrass SG500 is purpose-built to print using sublimation ink and paper. It works great, too. You can print up a storm of artwork to put on T-shirts for the whole family. While this has a larger ink well than the brother, the creaky feeling of the plastic, and the extra hundreds of dollars it costs means it can’t quite hit the top slot.

Photo Gallery 1/1

The Munbyn is good — for a thermal printer. It printed quickly and its labels were crisp and sharp, with no issues reading barcodes. However, it fell when trying to connect to the app. I found the app needed a lot of work, and it failed to connect more times than it connected. It’s also a hundred dollars more than its peers and not worth the extra money.

Know what you want your printer to do

What you intend to print will determine the best printer for you. If you’re mostly working with shopping lists, concert tickets, or travel itineraries, excellent print quality is arguably less important than print speed and price. If you’re using your printer for professional materials or photo printing, then color accuracy, printing quality and features like borderless printing will be primary considerations when choosing the right home printer.

Budget

Another factor to consider is the cost of ink and ensuring you have enough ink to print everything you need. (There’s nothing more frustrating than having a printer but no ink in the tank.) Inkjet printers use liquid ink to print, whereas laser printers use toner cartridges containing powder. Even if you’re getting a great printer deal, be sure to research how to refill the ink, so you can choose the best printer for your overall budget. Some new printers include an ink subscription in their original price tag, so that may be something to consider.

Show more
For a long time, CNET’s methodology for testing printers didn’t change. Our original testing was designed in the days when Wi-Fi printers were rare and faxing was an important consideration when choosing a device. These days, Wi-Fi is standard, app-controlled printers are everywhere, and what and how we print has changed considerably. I designed a new set of printing parameters in 2022 that I hope will mesh with how we use printers nowadays.

James Bricknell / CNET

Print and copy speed: The speed at which things print and copy are important in our daily lives. Printing a quick theater ticket or copying a document needs to be done speedily and accurately. Testing this is easy; I simply used a stopwatch and printed 10 pages of text of varying sizes and typefaces. I used Fillerama to generate random text from Star Wars and Monty Python and changed the font size randomly across the page. I also used different fonts, like Arial and Times New Roman, to see how they’d print. I even added Comic Sans to the mix, because some people still think it’s a good idea to use it (for middle managers mostly).

Brochure and webpage test: When asked, people told me they use their home printer for printing online tickets from webpages as well as their resumes for job interviews. With that in mind, I used the standard brochure template from Google Docs, which I changed a little — I made the font size smaller and larger and changed the font too — to give that modern resume look. I also saved my article about becoming a Star Wars action figure into a PDF — I needed to keep the ads the same on every test, so the live article wouldn’t do. Sometimes we’re in too much of a rush to select just the ticket, so printing the entire webpage is easier. This test simulates that.

Receipt test: When you work from home, you often have to submit your receipts for travel and incidentals. One of the most common ways to do that, if you aren’t lucky enough to have an app, is to tape receipts to a piece of paper and scan them into your computer. That way you can email them wherever they need to go quickly and easily. To re-create that, I taped my receipts from my food shopping to create a scan. I used a mixture of new receipts and ones that had faded in my wallet, then I checked the scan for legibility. Most scanners will enhance the image you’re scanning, and that certainly helps with receipts.

Picture quality test: As in previous CNET photo tests, I used the PhotoDisc Target file for my image tests. I printed images on the same Canon glossy paper and studied them according to the guidelines associated with this industry standard. I took special note of the skin tones at the bottom to make sure they were replicated correctly and also checked for chromatic abrasion. Chromatic abrasion is a purple hue that often surrounds images and can make even the best picture look cheap and tacky. I also checked for stippling; an image error that occurs on poorly calibrated inkjet printers.

Show more
Should you buy a printer with an ink subscription?

Ink subscriptions are becoming more common, with several printers on this list offering them as part of the original cost. Are they any good? It all depends on how much ink you use. If you’re printing more than 100 pages a month, then yes, it likely is a good deal. Less than that and you may find you don’t need it.

Most ink subscriptions offer you a certain number of months free, so it’s worth trying it to see if it can fulfill your needs, but remember to cancel it before you’re supposed to start paying if you don’t want it.

Show more

What are the different types of printer?

The most common printer types are:

Laser: Uses light, heat, and toner to create text and images (best for text).

Inkjet: Uses small dots of ink to create an overall shape (best for images).

Sublimation: Same as an inkjet, but the ink sticks to materials like mugs or T-shirts.

Thermal: Uses heat and thermal paper to produce text and images (best for labels).

Show more

How much should a home printer cost?

Printer prices can vary from $100 for simple budget printers, to $700 or more for complex printers that can seem like magic. The best home printers, especially the all-in-one printers that scan and copy as well, tend to sit at the $200 to $300 mark. If you need something only for text, you can get a good one for $150.

Show more
Source link
February 9, 2025
Where to find abortion resources off social media

On June 24, 2022 , the U.S. Supreme Court — led by a conservative majority — chose to repeal the privacy rights afforded to all Americans by overturning the landmark precedent enshrined in Roe v. Wade. Its immediate effect relegated the right of abortion access to the states, effectively threatening reproductive health services for millions of people.

In the years since, and with the nation now led by a presidential administration seeking to wage war on “elective” abortion, reproductive health care has transformed from an enshrined right to a political bargaining chip. Between 2020 and March 2024, 42 abortions clinics and reproductive health centers shut down. National abortion funds have endured, continuing to provide financial and logistic services to populations who now have to travel beyond state lines for abortion care, as well as to those for whom the services are much more difficult to access within their own communities. Sales of emergency contraception have skyrocketed, too, ballooning once more in the wake of the 2024 election results and on inauguration day.

President Trump has invoked the Hyde Amendment to justify the loss of reproductive health funding nationwide and pledged to return the “issue of life,” or what his recent executive order refers to as “violations of faith and conscience,” to the states. Just mere days after he was sworn into office, Trump pardoned 23 people who had been convicted of violating the 1994 Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The bill protects reproductive health services from threats of force, obstruction, and property damage, including blocking physical access to abortion clinics, breaking into facilities, stealing fetal tissue, and accosting pregnant patients.

Violence against abortion providers has been on the rise, as well. “Since 1977, there have been 11 murders, 42 bombings, 200 arsons, 531 assaults, 492 clinic invasions, 375 burglaries, and thousands of other incidents of criminal activities directed at patients, providers, and volunteers,” reports the National Abortion Federation.

SEE ALSO:

I’m quitting Instagram. You should too.

And now, with Big Tech’s leaders cozying up with the new administration and instituting regressive, conservative policies across their platforms, abortion providers and reproductive justice advocates are facing an increasingly hostile online environment, as well. Aid Access, one of the country’s largest providers of emergency contraception, accused Meta of obscuring search results and censoring posts containing images and information on medication-based abortion. Other abortion and reproductive justice pages have been removed from search results for various periods of time, and Meta has confirmed it suspended accounts and removed related content.

Federally, the Trump administration has moved to erase resources on reproductive health and other inclusive medical care provided on government sites, including modifying obstetric guides to contraceptive options. With fears of misinformation and censorship on social media growing, and support for reproductive health care at risk, the fight for abortion access may have to move offline — or, at least, off the For You Page.

Mapping the state of abortion access in the U.S.

Center for Reproductive Rights Abortion Laws Map

The Center for Reproductive Rights is a global, human-rights based coalition of attorneys and reproductive health advocates. Their U.S. Abortion Laws Map provides an overview of the legal landscape for abortion seekers in each state, and can be filtered by specific laws or regulations.

Credit: Center for Reproductive Rights

Guttmacher Institute’s Interactive Law Map

The Guttmacher Institute is a research and policy organization focused on sexual and reproductive health and rights around the world. The institute’s Interactive Law Map is a consistently updated overview of the most protective and most hostile state abortion laws — individuals can search the institute’s database by specific state or policy, such as total abortion bans, constitutional protections, state abortion care funds, or shield laws for providers.

Credit: Guttmacher Institute

Noise for Now Clinic Map

Noise for Now is a non-profit organization that organizes benefit concerts and artist collaborations that raise funds for reproductive justice. The organization’s interactive map locates Planned Parenthood Health Centers, independent abortion clinics (vetted as part of the Abortion Care Network, National Abortion Federation), and abortion funds for reproductive health seekers across the country.

Fake Clinic (AKA “Crisis Pregnancy Centers”) Maps

Crisis Pregnancy Center Map monitors and documents organizations created by anti-abortion groups that purport to offer reproductive health care centers, also known as “crisis pregnancy centers,” “anti-abortion centers,” “fake clinics,” or “pregnancy resource centers.” The group’s interactive online map allows abortion seekers to find and avoid locations that may divert them from having abortions.

Expose Fake Clinics, with support from groups like NARAL Pro-Choice America and Abortion Access Front, maintains a database of “crisis pregnancy centers” organized by state. Abortion and reproductive justice organization Reproaction also monitors and documents anti-abortion pregnancy centers.

Credit: Crisis Pregnancy Center Map

Abortion travel times by congressional district

Nonpartisan policy institute the Center for American Progress has turned national data on reproductive health access into an interactive map displaying the average travel times for individuals seeking abortions in each state. It is organized based on congressional district and was last updated in January 2025.

Credit: Center for American Progress

Abortion and emergency contraception access

I Need An A

Launched in 2016, I Need an A is “the first comprehensive, regularly updated, and personalized resource for abortion seekers in the U.S.,” the site explains. Partnered with organizations like Abortion Care Network, Apiary for Practical Support, and National Network of Abortion Funds, the platform connects abortion seekers with local (or the nearest) clinics — prioritizing user data privacy.

National Network of Abortion Funds

The National Network of Abortion Funds is a network of more than 100 abortion funds that provide financial support for abortion seekers around the country. The coalition offers grants, leadership, and technical assistance to local funds. Abortion seekers can use the site to answer questions like insurance coverage and connect with local financial assistance.

Abortion Finder

Abortion Finder is a comprehensive abortion information and resource platform that is operated by the nonprofit Power to Decide and its digital reproductive health platform Bedsider. Abortion Finder offers clinic maps, provider databases, funding and emotional support resources, as well as general information on abortion. Individuals can also find state by state guides to abortion access.

Abortion On Our Own Terms

Part of a national campaign to change the way self-managed abortion is discusses and regulated, Abortion On Our Own Terms connects individuals to secure (and culturally-sensitive) information on at-home abortion options, such as medical abortion, and menstruation tracking. Self-managed abortion with pills remains one of the most common forms of abortion.

Plan C

Plan C, started as a public health campaign, provides up-to-date information on how to access at-home abortion pill options online and by mail. Collating legal information, telehealth services, and online vendors, Plan C lays out the current state of medical abortion access.

You Always Have Options

A central resource hub created by I Need an A, Shout Your Abortion, Plan C, and abortion chatbot Charley for individuals who live in states where abortion is restricted. You Always Have Options collates links for finding providers, emergency contraception options, and resources for securing your digital privacy, acting as a one-stop shop for essential answers to reproductive justice questions.

Mashable Top Stories

Identity-based and regional resources

Asking for a Friend

A California-based, youth-focused platform that offers a variety of mental and reproductive health resources, Asking for a Friend provides practical and decision-making support to abortion seekers, including in-person and at-home options.

“The health services that we direct people to are compiled resources that we have found ourselves, that have been recommended by young people, Power to Decide (which also powers Abortionfinder.org & Bedsider), LGBTQ+ centers, as well as publicly available state data sets about providers who participate in safety net programs,” the platform explained to Mashable.

Reproductive Agency Honoring Impacted Muslims (RAHIM)

An ongoing initiative from HEART — a Muslim-led national reproductive justice organization tackling gender-based violence, sexual health, and reproductive health — RAHIM seeks to provide culturally relevant resources and support to Muslim abortion seekers.

Right to an abortion for immigrants

The National Immigration Law Center offers guidance and a Know-Your-Rights guide for immigrant populations seeking abortion and reproductive health care. According to the center, undocumented people are not disqualified from seeking and obtaining an abortion based on their immigration status, although many providers may require photo ID.

Indigenous Women Rising (Rain Fund)

Indigenous Women Rising fights for equitable and culturally safe health options for indigenous communities, including abortion, midwifery, and doula care. The organization’s abortion fund (Rain Fund) is available to all Native and Indigenous people in the U.S. and Canada.

Medical and legal support

National Abortion Hotline

How to get in contact:

Call 1-800-772-9100

Monday through Friday, 8 A.M. to 7 P.M. ET

Weekends, 8 A.M. to 4 P.M. ET

Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline

How to get in contact:

Call or text 1-833-246-2632

Everyday, 8 A.M. ET to 1 A.M. ET

All Options Talkline

How to get in contact:

Call 1-888-493-0092

Monday to Friday, 10 A.M. to 1 A.M ET

Saturday to Sunday, 10 A.M to 6 A.M. ET

Repro Legal Helpline

How to get in contact:

Call 1-844-868-2812 for general legal advice.

Call 1-866-463-7533 for financial assistance via their legal defense fund.

Fill out a contact form online to be connected with a lawyer.

Submit an online application for funding.

Abortion Defense Network

How to get in contact:

Fill out an assistance form online.

Source link

February 9, 2025
Tesla’s Dojo, a timeline | TechCrunch

Elon Musk doesn’t want Tesla to be just an automaker. He wants Tesla to be an AI company, one that’s figured out how to make cars drive themselves.

Crucial to that mission is Dojo, Tesla’s custom-built supercomputer designed to train its Full Self-Driving (FSD) neural networks. FSD isn’t actually fully self-driving; it can perform some automated driving tasks, but still requires an attentive human behind the wheel. But Tesla thinks with more data, more compute power and more training, it can cross the threshold from almost self-driving to full self-driving.

And that’s where Dojo comes in.

Musk has been teasing Dojo for some time, but the executive ramped up discussions about the supercomputer throughout 2024. Now that we’re in 2025, another supercomputer called Cortex has entered the chat, but Dojo’s importance to Tesla might still be existential — with EV sales slumping, investors want assurances that Tesla can achieve autonomy. Below is a timeline of Dojo mentions and promises.

2019

First mentions of Dojo

April 22 – At Tesla’s Autonomy Day, the automaker had its AI team onstage to talk about Autopilot and Full Self-Driving, and the AI powering them both. The company shares information about Tesla’s custom-built chips that are designed specifically for neural networks and self-driving cars.

During the event, Musk teases Dojo, revealing that it’s a supercomputer for training AI. He also notes that all Tesla cars being produced at the time would have all hardware necessary for full self-driving and only needed a software update.

2020

Musk begins the Dojo roadshow

Feb 2 – Musk says Tesla will soon have more than a million connected vehicles worldwide with sensors and compute needed for full self-driving — and touts Dojo’s capabilities.

“Dojo, our training supercomputer, will be able to process vast amounts of video training data & efficiently run hyperspace arrays with a vast number of parameters, plenty of memory & ultra-high bandwidth between cores. More on this later.”

August 14 – Musk reiterates Tesla’s plan to develop a neural network training computer called Dojo “to process truly vast amounts of video data,” calling it “a beast.” He also says the first version of Dojo is “about a year away,” which would put its launch date somewhere around August 2021.

December 31 – Elon says Dojo isn’t needed, but it will make self-driving better. “It isn’t enough to be safer than human drivers, Autopilot ultimately needs to be more than 10 times safer than human drivers.”

2021

Tesla makes Dojo official

August 19 – The automaker officially announces Dojo at Tesla’s first AI Day, an event meant to attract engineers to Tesla’s AI team. Tesla also introduces its D1 chip, which the automaker says it will use — alongside Nvidia’s GPU — to power the Dojo supercomputer. Tesla notes its AI cluster will house 3,000 D1 chips.

October 12 – Tesla releases a Dojo Technology whitepaper, “a guide to Tesla’s configurable floating point formats & arithmetic.” The whitepaper outlines a technical standard for a new type of binary floating-point arithmetic that’s used in deep learning neural networks and can be implemented “entirely in software, entirely in hardware, or in any combination of software and hardware.”

2022

Tesla reveals Dojo progress

August 12 – Musk says Tesla will “phase in Dojo. Won’t need to buy as many incremental GPUs next year.”

September 30 – At Tesla’s second AI Day, the company reveals that it has installed the first Dojo cabinet, testing 2.2 megawatts of load testing. Tesla says it was building one tile per day (which is made up of 25 D1 chips). Tesla demos Dojo onstage running a Stable Diffusion model to create an AI-generated image of a “Cybertruck on Mars.”

Importantly, the company sets a target date of a full Exapod cluster to be completed by Q1 2023, and says it plans to build a total of seven Exapods in Palo Alto.

2023

A ‘long-shot bet‘

April 19 – Musk tells investors during Tesla’s first-quarter earnings that Dojo “has the potential for an order of magnitude improvement in the cost of training,” and also “has the potential to become a sellable service that we would offer to other companies in the same way that Amazon Web Services offers web services.”

Musk also notes that he’d “look at Dojo as kind of a long-shot bet,” but a “bet worth making.”

June 21 – The Tesla AI X account posts that the company’s neural networks are already in customer vehicles. The thread includes a graph with a timeline of Tesla’s current and projected compute power, which places the start of Dojo production at July 2023, although it’s not clear if this refers to the D1 chips or the supercomputer itself. Musk says that same day that Dojo was already online and running tasks at Tesla data centers.

The company also projects that Tesla’s compute will be the top five in the entire world by around February 2024 (there are no indications this was successful) and that Tesla would reach 100 exaflops by October 2024.

July 19 – Tesla notes in its second-quarter earnings report it has started production of Dojo. Musk also says Tesla plans to spend more than $1 billion on Dojo through 2024.

September 6 – Musk posts on X that Tesla is limited by AI training compute, but that Nvidia and Dojo will fix that. He says managing the data from the roughly 160 billion frames of video Tesla gets from its cars per day is extremely difficult.

2024

Plans to scale

January 24 – During Tesla’s fourth-quarter and full-year earnings call, Musk acknowledges again that Dojo is a high-risk, high-reward project. He also says that Tesla was pursuing “the dual path of Nvidia and Dojo,” that “Dojo is working” and is “doing training jobs.” He notes Tesla is scaling it up and has “plans for Dojo 1.5, Dojo 2, Dojo 3 and whatnot.”

January 26 – Tesla announced plans to spend $500 million to build a Dojo supercomputer in Buffalo. Musk then downplays the investment somewhat, posting on X that while $500 million is a large sum, it’s “only equivalent to a 10k H100 system from Nvidia. Tesla will spend more than that on Nvidia hardware this year. The table stakes for being competitive in AI are at least several billion dollars per year at this point.”

April 30 – At TSMC’s North American Technology Symposium, the company says Dojo’s next-generation training tile — the D2, which puts the entire Dojo tile onto a single silicon wafer, rather than connecting 25 chips to make one tile — is already in production, according to IEEE Spectrum.

May 20 – Musk notes that the rear portion of the Giga Texas factory extension will include the construction of “a super dense, water-cooled supercomputer cluster.”

June 4 – A CNBC report reveals Musk diverted thousands of Nvidia chips reserved for Tesla to X and xAI. After initially saying the report was false, Musk posts on X that Tesla didn’t have a location to send the Nvidia chips to turn them on, due to the continued construction on the south extension of Giga Texas, “so they would have just sat in a warehouse.” He noted the extension will “house 50k H100s for FSD training.”

He also posts:

“Of the roughly $10B in AI-related expenditures I said Tesla would make this year, about half is internal, primarily the Tesla-designed AI inference computer and sensors present in all of our cars, plus Dojo. For building the AI training superclusters, NVidia hardware is about 2/3 of the cost. My current best guess for Nvidia purchases by Tesla are $3B to $4B this year.”

July 1 – Musk reveals on X that current Tesla vehicles may not have the right hardware for the company’s next-gen AI model. He says that the roughly 5x increase in parameter count with the next-gen AI “is very difficult to achieve without upgrading the vehicle inference computer.”

Nvidia supply challenges

July 23 – During Tesla’s second-quarter earnings call, Musk says demand for Nvidia hardware is “so high that it’s often difficult to get the GPUs.”

“I think this therefore requires that we put a lot more effort on Dojo in order to ensure that we’ve got the training capability that we need,” Musk says. “And we do see a path to being competitive with Nvidia with Dojo.”

A graph in Tesla’s investor deck predicts that Tesla AI training capacity will ramp to roughly 90,000 H100 equivalent GPUs by the end of 2024, up from around 40,000 in June. Later that day on X, Musk posts that Dojo 1 will have “roughly 8k H100-equivalent of training online by end of year.” He also posts photos of the supercomputer, which appears to use the same fridge-like stainless steel exterior as Tesla’s Cybertrucks.

From Dojo to Cortex

July 30 – AI5 is ~18 months away from high-volume production, Musk says in a reply to a post from someone claiming to start a club of “Tesla HW4/AI4 owners angry about getting left behind when AI5 comes out.”

August 3 – Musk posts on X that he did a walkthrough of “the Tesla supercompute cluster at Giga Texas (aka Cortex).” He notes that it would be made roughly of 100,000 H100/H200 Nvidia GPUs with “massive storage for video training of FSD & Optimus.”

August 26 – Musk posts on X a video of Cortex, which he refers to as “the giant new AI training supercluster being built at Tesla HQ in Austin to solve real-world AI.”

2025

No updates on Dojo in 2025

January 29 – Tesla’s Q4 and full-year 2024 earnings call included no mention of Dojo. Cortex, Tesla’s new AI training supercluster at the Austin gigafactory, did make an appearance, however. Tesla noted in its shareholder deck that it completed the deployment of Cortex, which is made up of roughly 50,000 H100 Nvidia GPUs.

“Cortex helped enable V13 of FSD (Supervised), which boasts major improvements in safety and comfort thanks to 4.2x increase in data, higher resolution video inputs … among other enhancements,” according to the letter.

During the call, CFO Vaibhav Taneja noted that Tesla accelerated the buildout of Cortex to speed up the rollout of FSD V13. He said that accumulated AI-related capital expenditures, including infrastructure, “so far has been approximately $5 billion.” In 2025, Taneja said he expects capex to be flat as it relates to AI.

This story originally published August 10, 2024, and we will update it as new information develops.

Source link

February 9, 2025
Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro Edition review: a classic, remastered

There aren’t many audio products that you could call ‘iconic’. But Bowers & Wilkins’ Zeppelin – which I recall when it first came to market as the ultimate iPod dock, remember that from 15 years ago? – yet again impressed me upon its reimagined release back in 2021. Now one of the best wireless speakers returns as an established classic remastered, as the Zeppelin Pro Edition.

But what exactly is so ‘Pro’ about this new wireless speaker? The Zeppelin’s looks certainly haven’t changed since its previous release – save for the new Solar Gold finish and adjustable light colour to the front – but its internals have been given a re-rub for the better, making for a more mature and sophisticated audio offering.

I’ve been living with the Pro Edition for two months now – and it’s evident to me that the expression ‘once a classic, always a classic’ remains true. The latest Zeppelin is a clear 5-star speaker through and through, so long as you’re content without any voice control anyway…

B&W Zeppelin Pro Edition: Price & Availability

When the last-gen Zeppelin arrived, it was priced at £699 / $799 / AU$1,199 at launch. Well, guess what? The Zeppelin Pro Edition is priced the very same! No generational price increase is great to see, although the older model is available at a great discount right now.

In terms of availability, however, while the Pro Edition speaker is on general sale, I’ve not been able to obtain it from many retailers as yet due to stock and demand. Do keep an eye on the shopping widget embedded above, however, as that’ll show you the latest and greatest deals.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro: What’s New?

Mid-range drivers add anti-resonance plug, have revised motor and damping

New titanium dome tweeter (as per the 607 Series speakers)

Front light colour can be adjusted from within the app

No Alexa voice control on board

New ‘Solar Gold’ finish

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

As you can see from my shots in this very review, the Zeppelin Pro Edition is a visual carbon copy of the previous Zeppelin. Both models are the exact same size (21cm high, 19cm deep, and 65cm long), with the same arrangement of ports and buttons – physical on/off, Bluetooth pairing and separate volume up/down buttons live on the curved rear surface – and only the Solar Gold finish indicating the Pro Edition’s distinction.

It’s what’s inside where Bowers & Wilkins has really gone to work, though, boosting the audio platform and making it “more grown up”. Within there are five speakers total – one 150mm woofer, two 90mm midrange drivers, and one 25mm tweeter – which, again, are an absolute echo of what was also in the original Zeppelin.

The changes are therefore subtle: it’s out with the aluminium tweeter of old and in with a titanium dome tweeter instead (the same as found in the 607 Series floor-standing speakers from the brand), while the midrange drivers have a new anti-resonance plug, revised motor and damping systems – the goal to achieve even less distortion than before.

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

If you don’t fancy the Solar Gold then there’s also Midnight Sky – I’d call it ‘black’, really – which is likely to be popular. Oh, and the downlight at the front of the product can be adjusted to output different colours – as selected from the app. That might seem like a small thing, but the addition of colours can really change the mood and ambience.

As I mentioned in the intro of this review, those who rely on voice control might not be a fan of the Pro Edition either. That’s because Amazon’s Alexa has been banished – a feature that existed in the previous Zeppelin – and there’s no voice assistant of any kind.

Apparently too few Zeppelin owners used voice, says Bowers & Wilkins. And while I should be upset by the feature’s lacking here, I’m actually pleased – Alexa always interrupts my soundbar’s output, so I’m glad it doesn’t break up the listening experience here.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro review: Design & Setup

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

As per its name, the Zeppelin looks very much like an actual Zeppelin – only this one can’t fly, isn’t full of gas and there’s no Goodyear logo to be seen anywhere. It’s a visually far more arresting look than many of the current desk-like options available, from Cambridge Audio to Ruark.

I think of the Zeppelin Pro Edition as more of a higher-end Sonos competitor, as Bowers & Wilkins’ more heavyweight build here – it’s got a built-in metal stand, contributing to its overall 6.6kgs mass – sees it look more sophisticated compared to the largely plastic exterior of a Sonos Era 300. It’s a beautifully made object, every bit worthy of its ‘Pro’ name.

Connectivity is all wireless, which I can completely understand, but do think a 3.5mm port or even HDMI input wouldn’t have gone amiss here – especially in the ‘Pro’ model, where I think an even more diverse range of buyers could come into play. There is a USB-C port next to the fig-8 power port, but it’s strictly for ‘service only’ – so you can’t transmit any audio data that way.

I’ve already mentioned the physical controls, which you’ll need when setting up the product, but a couple of taps here and there and you’re good to go – it’s very easy. The Bowers & Wilkins Music app is a handy part of the process, too, especially if you want to pool your various sources. The app is ready for linking your Qobuz, Tidal, Amazon Music, Soundcloud, Deezer and various stations (Pandora, TuneIn, Last.FM, Dash, NTS), is Roon Ready and Spotify Connect compatible, delivering aptX Adaptive quality.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro review: Sound & Performance

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

First and foremost, this is a high-resolution device capable of delivering quality up to 24-bit/96kHz (the onboard DAC is actually even better than that, at up to 192kHz, but is currently restricted – a future tweak, who knows?). So whether you’re pushing tunes from your phone via Bluetooth, or cranking out the utmost quality from a Tidal connection via your Wi-Fi network, this Zeppelin is more than happy with the full range.

I first heard the speaker back in November of last year, getting samples of Heaven by The National, to Big Bw by Fat Freddy’s Drop and A Foggy Day by Oscar Peterson to show the speaker’s considerable breadth of range.

But while I first called the Zeppelin Pro “a dream for those who love clear, crisp vocals”, now I’ve lived with the speaker for many weeks, I must also complement it on being a versatile all-rounder too. Sure, its mid-range delivery is really exemplary – and really sets it apart from its various competition. It’s the attention to detail and impressive tonality that are a real selling point.

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

The big question on many people’s lips, however, will be just how different the Pro Edition sounds versus the original? I’ve A-B tested the two, and think the original model actually gives the bass a little more room, while vocals have a marginally greater clearance in the mix, and, to my ears, the high-end actually being more rolled-off compared to the original speaker – despite the new aluminium tweeter delivering up to 24kHz.

But I’ve also been having a house music renaissance in 2025 so far, with many of Lane 8‘s seasonal mixes championing my musical timeline – and delivered superbly. The myriad of these 4/4 selections, whether it’s Disclosure or various Anjunadeep artists, provides effortless bass (down to 35Hz) that attacks as you’d want it to, but doesn’t linger – it’s a taut and clean listen.

The Pro Edition does all of this up to rather considerable volume levels, too – the speakers combined are 200W, driven by 240W of amplification – whilst maintaining dynamic range and ability up into pretty considerable decibel levels. I think you can overcook it, but my office has been more than filled with sound at the 50-60% level during the day. And as there’s no three-dimensional audio shenanigans the soundfield is sturdy and central – lacking a little in stereo separation given the design’s make-up, but that’s just fine by me, given its coherent performance.

Bowers & Wilkins Zeppelin Pro review: Verdict

(Image credit: Future / Mike Lowe)

A classic, remastered. That’s the Zeppelin Pro Edition in a nutshell. It takes all that made one of the best wireless speakers great and tweaks it yet further. It’s a far more interesting-looking product than a Sonos or wood-topped hi-fi too.

Sure, it’s marginal, and I wouldn’t see the Pro as an obvious ‘upgrade’ model for current owners – especially if you want voice control, which now lacks – but those seeking a distinctive wireless speaker with discerning sound, look no further.

Also consider

It’s hard to ignore the older ‘not Pro’ Zeppelin, which is externally identical – save for the light colour change and new material colour option – as it’s a fair chunk of change cheaper, still sounds excellent, and offers a voice assistant.

Elsewhere, the Cambridge Audio Evo One all-in-one looks entirely different, offers a wood-topped finish plus a display to the front, and sounds pretty great too. It’s hard to find, given the demand, but could be your ideal match – if you’ve got some more cash to spend, anyway.

Looking to spend a little less? Sonos’ Era 300 is undeniably impressive, with great multi-room potential, but doesn’t have the scale, visual impact or finish of the Bowers. That’ll be why it’s less costly, too, though…

Source link

February 8, 2025
Forget hardware: the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra’s updated OS really shines

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra is one of the best phones in Australia, and in 2025 it’ll be a difficult handset to beat as our attention turns to the Google Pixel 10 Pro and the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max coming later this year. It only improves upon the best cameraphone of 2024, the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and it continues a trend set by the S24. In 2025, software took over the stage almost entirely in San Jose at Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked event.

Yes, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra received a new rounded design that makes it look more like its standard S25 and S25 Plus counterparts. Samsung also decided to axe Bluetooth features from the S Pen with the S25 Ultra, which enabled users to take photos with the phone’s included stylus (super useful for group shots and selfies, though Samsung said it’s not a popular feature). Hardware undoubtedly changed and indeed the phone did receive its annual CPU/GPU performance buff – but in 2025, Samsung’s more interested in software.

With the launch of One UI 7, Samsung’s app icons, widgets, status bar and other core software features have gotten a refresh. They feel more efficient, space-aware and better in line with the customization that many users crave from their smartphones. When I first received this phone, my colleagues and I were saddened at how limited the ‘Good Lock’ OS-modifying tool had become with One UI 7, but after toying with the operating system, I’ve come to realize that I could finally get by without it.

Better yet, the introduction of the Now Bar and the all-new Now Brief are actually useful productivity features that look good on the display, and they’re my favorite features of the launch.

Whether or not Samsung’s useful Now Brief page, which generates an AI-assisted snapshot of the rest of your day (or next day), effectively encompasses what has become the popular perception of AI (incorporating the use of large-language models and the like) feels beside the point. This is a genuinely useful feature and to some extent, I’m disappointed that it has been tarnished by the ‘AI’ tag that justifiably puts a bad taste in people’s mouths.

To that end, we can ignore the elephant in the room no longer – the messy state of affairs that is AI on a Samsung phone. Such phones are torn between Galaxy AI tools (many of which function on-device) and Google Gemini, and there’s cause for concern in this discrepancy.

So let’s chat Samsung’s latest OS polish, its handy new tricks, and its spotty AI-fication.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Hello, beautiful

I’ll quickly admit that Samsung’s approach to UI design up until now hasn’t been my favorite. Coming from iOS in 2022, the Google Pixel range won me over with the uniform aesthetic that makes it the closest thing to an iPhone on the Android side of the fence. Samsung’s phones, albeit partly due to their overstuffing of bloatware with a fresh install, tend to have a more tech-savvy aesthetic – showing more icons on a space, settings icons at all times across the settings bar (top of the display) and generally sharing more information than is necessary for a casual user.

That doesn’t seem to be the case with the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and One UI 7. With this launch, subtle but sweeping changes have been made to the home screen, including app icon scale choice, dark icons in dark mode when ‘Color Palette’ is applied to apps, and expanded folders (which you can tap to open apps without opening said folder).

One of my big reservations about Samsung phones up until now has been the cluttered Status Bar, showing oh so many symbols that don’t need to be displayed at all times (for example, the 5G icon, NFC icon and Bluetooth icon, to name a few). These icons have now been relegated to the status bar only when accessing the quick settings and notifications menu (accessed by swiping down), while app notifications continue to persist on the left of the status bar (unless disabled).

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Widgets and lock screen/notifications menu pop-ups have also received a glow-up, and are now rounded at the corners and displaying more information on the home screen. However, to activate these notification ‘cards’ on the lock screen, you’ll need to do so in your lock screen settings (switching over from icons to cards).

It’s the little things that add up, surrounding the introduction of two big things. The Now bar comes first; it’s a multi-function widget that appears contextually at the bottom of the lock screen. I really love how it expands when tapped while playing music, displays timers and how it communicates Google Maps info. It’s great having it so low on the screen, so it’s more accessible one-handed. It feels more intuitive than Apple’s Dynamic Island which it seems inspired by.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Moreover, Now Brief is a genuinely useful addition to the One UI suite of features. In the morning, at mid-day and at night, the phone will produce a ‘Now Brief’ rundown of upcoming events (including weather reports, travel information and calendar notifications) and a recap of your last several hours (including sleep data, missed calls and photos taken).

It’s a useful tool for putting all your contextually appropriate alerts in the one spot for your review, and it pains me that it’s not even more useful. I’d love for it to pull information from more apps – recommending me to continue listening to a podcast, select audiobook or keep watching a Disney+ series. The best it’ll do on these fronts is recommend you a Spotify playlist or push you in the direction of YouTube Shorts.

I’d also like it to be a little less… wrong? After waking up one morning, it recommended me a ‘liquid EDM’ playlist. I’ve been known to l listen to the odd EDM song here or there, but it seems like a wild genre to wake up to.

But it’s in Now Brief that we approach the cluttered state of Samsung’s AI suite.

Samsung’s AI confusion

And then there’s Google Gemini. On One UI 7 and the S25 range, Gemini has replaced the default Google Assistant (Bixby who?), and while I do like Gemini as a virtual assistant, its coexistence with these other AI tools is potentially confusing to a casual user.

That being said, Samsung has added cross-app actions to the S25 range with Google Gemini. You can ask Gemini to perform a complex series of commands, such as finding the information on several businesses online to be added to your Notes app, and it will be done so fluidly (as demonstrated by our friends at Tom’s Guide). The only third-party apps currently supported are Whatsapp and Spotify, but this awesome time-saving feature genuinely has the potential to help get stuff done quickly.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Erring on the critical side, I think we’re being a bit liberal with what we’re appropriately calling an ‘AI feature’. For example; Google Circle to Search continues to be one of my favorite features of Android phones in 2024. It’s supposedly underpinned by AI, but it’s unclear how AI actually factors into the function of this tool. After all, it’s basically a simple-to-access spin on Google Lens with support for on-screen circling.

Similarly with Now Brief, it’s not clear just how much of it benefits from so-called AI features. A day-to-come or day-passed snapshot is simply a splash screen displaying your upcoming events, weather alerts, a smattering of content recommendations and health figures from throughout the day.

It might seem bereft to criticize AI features on the merit of being ‘AI-powered’, but I have one major concern. Since the launch of the Galaxy S24 range, Samsung has noted that it may, eventually, start to charge for its AI features. At the time of writing, the official company tagline is:

“Fees may apply for AI features at the end of 2025. Certain Galaxy AI features require [a] Samsung and Google Account. [An] internet connection may be required to use some features. AI Features will be provided free of charge until the end of 2025 on supported Samsung Galaxy devices.”

My concern is that access to some of these genuinely useful features will be paywalled alongside the AI tools that many people won’t actually get any use from.

I have no problem paying a subscription for a genuinely useful product or service if I’m actually getting value from it. Between Circle to Search and Now Brief, I now have two AI features that I like.

And I don’t think I could sensibly pay for either.

(Image credit: Zachariah Kelly / TechRadar)

Samsung needs to steer carefully

While Samsung has spent a fair amount of time beautifying its operating system, its AI software is starting to become a different story altogether. No doubt people are using such features at their own discretion, but so far there hasn’t been a must-have AI tool built into One UI (or any phone OS for that matter).

On the bright side, One UI 7 brings with it a nice aesthetic refresh, and in a hardware lull year, it’s the best I could have wanted from Samsung.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 range is available now.

Section: You may also like…

Source link

February 8, 2025

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review | ITPro

The ActiveProtect products signal a new direction for Synology as they’re designed to deliver a purpose-built backup appliance solution to mid-sized businesses and enterprises. Powered by Synology’s new APM (ActiveProtect Manager) OS, they claim to deliver up to a 30-fold reduction in TCO compared with other solutions as they are preconfigured with a high storage capacity and avoid complex and costly licensing as their one-time purchase allows unlimited workloads to be secured up to the limits of the storage.

ActiveProtect offers unified data protection and recovery for a wide range of environments. It supports Windows and Mac endpoints, Windows and Linux servers, Oracle and SQL Server databases, SMB, NetApp, Nutanix and Synology NAS file servers, VMware and Hyper-V hosts, and all Microsoft 365 services.

The ActiveProtect family currently comprises three members – the 2U rackmount DP7400 plus the desktop 4-bay DP340 and 2-bay DP320 – and it’s important to understand their target markets and the relationships between them. We discussed this with Synology which advised us it is not currently offering the DP340 and DP320 as standalone backup appliances for smaller businesses.

These two appliances are designed primarily for deployment in remote locations where they provide fast local backup and recovery services and are centrally managed as cluster members by a DP7400. The base price enables support for three cluster members (including the DP7400) with further three-year cluster licenses costing €1,800.

(Image credit: Future)

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review: Hardware and deployment

The DP7400 is powered by a 12-core 2.9GHz AMD EPYC 7272 CPU teamed up with 64GB of DDR4 field-upgradeable to 512GB. You get a dedicated Gigabit management port and dual 10GbE data ports with two spare PCIe slots for further network upgrades using Synology’s adapter cards.

The system is supplied with ten 20TB Synology HAT5310 SATA HDDs and two 3.84GB SAT5221 SATA SSDs. Deployment is swift as we followed the appliance’s web-based wizard which installed APM and automatically configured a RAID6 array with hot-spare using all HDDs and a RAID1 SSD read/write cache with the whole process taking a shade over 15 minutes.

The web console presents a smart dashboard view with details on all protected workloads, total data size, the efficiency of APM’s source-side deduplication plus backup copy status. It provides a job calendar view that’s similar to the DSM Active Backup for Business app but goes much further with status details of cluster members along with graphs for backup duration, data increase, and storage usage trends.

Synology also provided us with a DP320 appliance which we set up as a remote backup device. After declaring it to the DP7400, it appeared in the main APM console and advised us it was under new management.

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review: Protection plans

APM includes two default protection plans for general use and Microsoft 365 backups but it’s easy enough to create your own. Ransomware protection kicks in immediately as all plan creation tasks start by offering you the choice of standard or immutable local storage where the latter stops any backup versions from being deleted until the retention period you’ve set has expired.

Jobs can be scheduled to run at regular intervals, you can decide how many versions to retain, make plans application-aware, and customize how they handle databases. An outstanding feature is backup verification for virtual machines (VMs) and physical servers as with this enabled, the plan runs test restores to APM’s internal hypervisor, confirms they work, and records the processes as downloadable MP4 videos.

The last step is to decide if you want backups copied to a secondary location. You can define other remote APM appliances and we used our Synology C2 and Amazon S3 cloud storage accounts to assign buckets to APM which enhances ransomware protection by only accepting immutable buckets with Object Lock enabled and can enforce client-side encryption for secure transmissions.

We also created plans for the DP320 that backed up Windows clients locally at the remote site and copied the backups to the DP7400. More ransomware protection is provided with an air-gap feature that can be applied to backup copy appliances that for the specified periods, isolates them by denying connections. It also deactivates all network cards and, if required, shuts them down.

(Image credit: Future)

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review: Declare and protect

Adding Windows PCs, macOS clients, and physical Windows and Linux servers requires the ActiveProtect agent to be installed locally. You create a connect key from the APM console by selecting the appliance you want to assign the workload to, enter the appliance’s local IP address or remote FQDN along with the key in the client’s interface and it will link up and offer to start the assigned backup plan.

Declaring our Hyper-V and VMware vCenter hosts only required their IP addresses and credentials and we could assign individual VMs to plans or use the auto backup feature at the host level so all newly created VMs are included. Backup performance over 10GbE is good as our first backup to secure three Hyper-V Windows Server VMs totaling 900GB only took 13 minutes.

Adding our Microsoft 365 tenant was a piece of cake as APM asked us to authenticate and accept its permission requests after which it created a new Entra ID APM app. We opted to use the default Microsoft 365 backup plan and apply it to all Exchange, OneDrive, Chat, Microsoft 365 Groups, SharePoint, and Teams components.

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review: Recovery features

Data restoration features are in abundance as you choose a workload, load the recovery portal, view its files, folders, or volumes, pick a recovery point, and decide where to send them. Database recovery is a little more involved as we selected our SQL Server host VM, viewed its databases, downloaded the relevant MDF and LDF files and manually moved them to the target for restoration.

Another option is the recover to VM option which can be applied to any supported workload and can use VMware, Hyper-V or APM’s built-in hypervisor. For our SQL Server host, we created a new VMware VM which took 24 minutes over a Gigabit connection while recovery to APM’s own hypervisor took 6 minutes.

For Microsoft 365 recovery, we used the portal to select components plus a point in time and restore them to their original location or, for items such as emails and OneDrive files, to another user. APM also provides a self-service portal so authenticated users can carry out recovery tasks without pestering support staff.

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review: Is it worth it?

The market for purpose-built backup appliances is intensely competitive and Synology’s ActiveProtect offers a solid alternative to the established names. With an MSRP of €39,999, the DP7400 is offering a lot for your money and you don’t need to worry about client or capacity-based licenses either as everything is included in a one-off purchase.

The full house of 20TB HDDs delivers around 122TB of usable backup capacity and Synology’s deduplication algorithms are very efficient as our 7TB of test backup data was squashed down to only 1.2TB representing a 1% usage. The DP340 and DP320 aren’t such good value as they have MSRPs of €4,125 and €1,650 respectively but integrating them as cluster members is easy and they simplify remote site backup and replication.

We found it pleasingly easy to deploy and combining all the features offered by APM’s plans allows you to create a fully managed 3-2-1-1-0 strategy. Larger businesses that want an affordable all-in-one solution for their entire data protection strategy will find Synology’s ActiveProtect DP7400 is a strong contender.

Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 specifications

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Chassis 2U rack chassis Row 0 – Cell 2

CPU 12-core 2.9GHz AMD EPYC 7272 Row 1 – Cell 2

Memory 64GB DDR4 ECC RDIMM (max 512GB) Row 2 – Cell 2

Storage 12 x SATA LFF/SFF Row 3 – Cell 2

Drives included 10 x 20TB Synology HAT5310 LFF, 2 x 3.84GB Synology SAT5221 SSDs Row 4 – Cell 2

RAID RAID6 with hot-spare and RAID1 SSD cache Row 5 – Cell 2

Expansion 2 x PCIe Gen 3 slots Row 6 – Cell 2

Network Gigabit management, 2 x 10GBase-T data Row 7 – Cell 2

Power 2 x hot-plug 550W PSUs Row 8 – Cell 2

Management Web browser Row 9 – Cell 2

Warranty 5 years Row 10 – Cell 2

Source link

February 8, 2025

Network jobs watch: Hiring, skills and certification trends

October 2024

Women in IT report gender bias in the workplace

A recent survey revealed that 71% of 327 full-time female IT respondents said they work longer hours in hopes of more quickly advancing their careers. In addition, 70% of respondents said men in IT were likely to advance their careers or receive promotions more quickly than women. Some 31% of those surveyed said they believe that men are promoted faster. And almost two-thirds said their workplaces are not doing enough to promote or achieve gender equality, according to Acronis.

To help foster more gender diversity, survey respondents said they could benefit from training and other courses, including: master classes, learning courses, and workshops (63%); networking events (58%); and memberships in professional organizations (44%). On the employer side, respondents said they believe organizations can help foster more gender equality in the workplace by offering mentorship opportunities (51%), actively hiring more diverse candidates (49%), and ensuring pay equity (49%). Read the full story here.

October 2024

Tech unemployment decreases in September

Technology occupation employment increased by 118,000 new positions in September, according to CompTIA’s analysis of recent data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The job growth pushed the tech unemployment rate down to 2.5% and included 8,583 net new positions for the month.

The CompTIA Tech Jobs Report shows that job postings for future tech hiring grew to more than 516,000 active postings, including 225,000 new listings added in September. The jobs that saw the largest growth in percentage points in September are tech support specialists and database administrators. New hiring was driven by cloud infrastructure, data processing and hosting, and tech services and customer software development sector, CompTIA concluded from the BLS data.

“It was never really a question of if, but when employers were going to resume hiring,” Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA, said in a statement. “A broad mix of companies viewed recent economic developments as the green light to move forward in addressing their tech talent needs.”

October 2024

CompTIA bolsters Cloud+ certification

CompTIA has updated its Cloud+ professional certification to include DevOps, combining software development know-how with network operations experience, and other areas of expertise such as troubleshooting common cloud management issues.

The updated certification course will cover cloud architecture, design, and deployment; security; provisioning and configuring cloud resources; managing operations throughout the cloud environment life cycle; automation and virtualization; backup and recovery; high-availability; fundamental DevOps concepts; and cloud management. The program will also include expertise on technologies such as machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things, according to CompTIA.

“Businesses need to ensure that their teams have the skills to manage cloud and hybrid environments,” said Teresa Sears, senior vice president of product management at CompTIA, said in a statement. “CompTIA Cloud+ gives team members the ability to manage complex migrations, oversee multi-cloud environments, secure data, and troubleshoot while maintaining cost-effective operations.”

Technology professionals with CompTIA Cloud+ or CompTIA Network+ certifications can further their skills and validate their knowledge with the CompTIA CloudNetX certification, which is scheduled to be released early next year and is part of the CompTIA Xpert Series, CompTIA says.

October 2024

Pearson debuts genAI certification

There’s a new genAI certification from Certiport, a Pearson VUE business. This week the provider unveiled its Generative AI Foundations certification, which is designed to equip professionals and students with the skills needed to work with genAI technologies. The certification will validate an individual’s knowledge in areas such as:

Understanding generative AI methods and models

Mastering the basics of prompt engineering and prompt refinement

Grasping the societal impact of AI, including recognizing bias and understanding privacy concerns

The Generative AI Foundations certification is available now through Mindhub and Certiport as well as Pearson VUE’s online testing platform, OnVUE, and in test centers within the Certiport network.

October 2024

Mixed bag for network, system admin jobs

Recent data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that while there will be growth for many IT positions between now and 2033, some network and computer systems administrator roles are expected to decline. The number of computer network architects will climb 13.4%, and computer network support specialists will see a 7.3% gain in jobs. Network and computer systems administrators will see a decline of 2.6%, however.

Overall, the market segment that BLS calls “computer and mathematical occupations” is projected to grow 12.9% between 2023 and 2033, increasing by 699,000 jobs. That makes it the second fastest growing occupational group, behind healthcare support occupations (15.2%).

Read the full story here: 10-year forecast shows growth in network architect jobs while sysadmin roles shrink

September 2024

IT employment ticks down in August

IT employment ticked down .05% in August, resulting in the loss of 2,400 jobs, month-over-month, according to an analysis of the high-tech employment market by TechServe Alliance. On a yearly basis, the IT job market shrunk by .33% with a loss of 17,500 positions. On a more positive note, the staffing company noted that engineering positions saw a more than 1% increase in a year-over-year comparison, adding 29,800 jobs in the same period.

“As the overall job market softened in August, IT employment continued to struggle to gain momentum,” said Mark Roberts, TechServe’s CEO, in a statement. “Throughout 2024, job growth in IT has been effectively flat after 23 consecutive months of job losses. I continue to see IT employment moving sideways until the fog of uncertainty lifts over the economy, the national election, and ongoing geopolitical turbulence.”

September 2024

Employee education holding back AI success

Employee education and training around AI will become more and more critical as research reveals that a majority of employees do not know how to apply the technology to their jobs.

According to Slingshot’s 2024 Digital Work Trends Report, 77% of employees reported that don’t feel they are completely trained or have adequate training on the AI tools offered to them by managers. And for the most part, managers agree with just 27% saying that they feel employees are completely trained on the AI tools provided to employees.

The research, conducted in Q2 2024 by Dynata and based on 253 respondents, also noted that AI skills and quality data are significant barriers to AI success. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of all respondents noted that their organization doesn’t have AI experts on their team, which is preventing their employers from offering AI tools. Another 45% pointed to the quality of data within the organization as a top reason AI tools aren’t offered at work. A third reason that AI isn’t prevalent in some workplaces is that organizations don’t have the tech infrastructure in place to implement AI tools.

“Data is top of mind for employees too when it comes to AI: 33% of employers say their company would be ready to support AI if their company’s data was combed through for accuracy, and 32% say they need more training around data and AI before their company is ready,” the report reads.

September 2024

U.S. labor market continues downward slide

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) this week released its most recent employment data that shows the ratio of job openings per unemployed worker continues to steadily decline, indicating unemployment rates will continue to rise.

According to BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Summary (JOLTS) data, the number of job openings hit 7.7 million on the last day of July, while the hires stood at 5.5 million and “separations” increased to 5.4 million. Separations (3.3 million) include quits, layoffs, and discharges (1.8 million) for the same timeframe. The most recent numbers hint at more bad news for unemployment in the country, according to industry watchers.

“The labor market is no longer cooling down to its pre-pandemic temperature … it’s dropped below,” an Indeed Hiring Lab report on the BLS data stated. “The labor market is past moderation and trending toward deterioration.”

For IT professionals, the BLS data shows that jobs in high tech might grow slightly by 5,000 jobs in 2024, but that will not be enough growth to offset the number of unemployed IT workers—which Janco Associates estimates is about 145,000.

“According to the latest BLS data analyzed, there are now approximately 4.18 million jobs for IT professionals in the US. Layoffs at big tech companies continued to hurt overall IT hiring. Large high-tech firms continue to lay off to have better bottom lines. Included in that group of companies that have recently announced new layoffs are Intel, Microsoft, and Google,” said M. Victor Janulaitis, CEO of Janco, in a statement. “At the same time, BLS data shows that around 81,000 IT pros were hired but that 147,000 were looking for work in June. Our analysis predicts the same will be the case for July and August.”

September 2024

CompTIA unveils data science certification program

Technology pros seeking to validate their data science competencies can now prove their knowledge with CompTIA’s DataX certification program.

Part of CompTIA’s recently launched Xpert Series, the DataX program is based on input from data scientists working in private and public sectors and focuses on the skills critical to a data scientist’s success, such as: mathematics and statistics; modeling, analysis, and outcomes; operations and processes; machine learning; and specialized applications of data science. The program is designed for data scientists with five or more years of experience, and it identifies knowledge gaps as well as provides learning content to get candidates current on expert-level topics.

“Earning a CompTIA DataX certification is a reliable indicator of a professional’s commitment to excellence in the field of data science,” said Teresa Sears, senior vice president of product management, CompTIA, in a statement. “This program validates the advanced analytics skills that help organizations enhance efficiency, mitigate risks, and maximize the value of their data assets.”

August 2024

CompTIA partners to provide IT training and certifications across Africa

CompTIA is partnering with Gebeya Inc. to provide access to CompTIA’s library of IT, networking, cybersecurity and cloud computing courses. The collaboration will allow Africans interested in technology to access IT training and certification classes via CompTIA.

Gebeya, a Pan-African talent cloud technology provider, says its mission “is to close the digital skills gap and drive digital transformation across Africa.” Partnering with CompTIA will enable aspiring technology workers in Africa to bolster their skills. “Our strategic partnership with CompTIA allows us to integrate a comprehensive skilling module within the Gebeya Talent Cloud, enabling our customers and partners to offer unmatched access to world-class IT training and certifications to their talent communities,” said Amadou Daffe, Gebeya CEO, in a statement.

CompTIA offers vendor-neutral IT certifications that cover the fundamentals of several IT functions. The organization says its library of courses can help individuals stay current with today’s in-demand technology skills as well as enhance technical competency worldwide.

“We have a shared mission to close the digital skills gap in Africa,” said Benjamin Ndambuki, CompTIA’s territory development representative for Africa, in a statement. “With Gebeya’s extensive reach and local expertise and CompTIA’s globally recognized certifications, we are confident we can empower a new generation of African tech professionals to thrive in the digital economy.”

August 2024

U.S. job growth weaker than forecast, unemployment rate creeping upward

New data released from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows earlier estimates of job growth were miscalculated. The agency reported this week that there were 818,000 fewer jobs added in the 12 months ending in March 2024 than previously reported. This information coupled with reports from Indeed that the unemployment rate continues to slowly increase is raising recession fears.

According to Indeed’s Hiring Lab, “on a three-month average basis, the unemployment rate has risen .55 percentage points since its low of 3.5% in January 2023.” The adjusted BLS numbers suggest weak hiring and a cooler market than previously projected, but Indeed says there are reasons for “cautious optimism” about the U.S. labor market. For instance, the amount of available job postings and growth in wages could continue to attract more workers to the labor force.

“In addition to a relative abundance of job opportunities, another factor that may be drawing workers back to the labor force in greater numbers is persistently strong wage growth, which has slowed from recent highs but remains on par with pre-pandemic levels,” Indeed reported.

August 2024

Talent gap threatens US semiconductor industry

The semiconductor industry could be facing a major labor shortage as industry growth has outpaced the availability of skilled workers in the US. A recent report by McKinsey & Company found that public and private investment in the semiconductor industry in the US will expand to more than $250 billion by 2032 and will bring more than 160,000 new job openings in engineering and technical support to the industry. This coupled with the steep decline of the US domestic semiconductor manufacturing workforce – which has dropped 43% from its peak employment levels in 2000 – means the industry will struggle to fill those jobs. At the current rate, the shortage of engineers and technicians could reach as high as 146,000 workers by 2029, according to the report.

August 2024

CompTIA wants to help build high-tech careers

New career resources from CompTIA are designed to teach people about specific tech-related roles and empower them to tailor a career path that best aligns with their skills and experiences.

“Too many people don’t know what it means to work in tech, so they’re scared, or they think the jobs are boring or are too hard,” said Todd Thibodeaux, president and CEO of CompTIA, in a statement. “We want to educate people about the dynamic employment opportunities available in tech; encourage them to know they can thrive in these jobs; and empower them with the knowledge and skills to succeed.”

Among the new resources is CompTIA Career Explorer, which the nonprofit organization says will help professionals tailor a career path that aligns with their workstyles and lifestyles. With the tool, jobseekers can test drive “a day in the life of specific job roles and challenge themselves with real-time, true-to-life problem solving” related to the jobs.

CompTIA Career+ will provide users with an immersive, interactive video experience that “showcases a day in the life of in-demand job roles,” according to CompTIA. This resource will feature up to 30 job roles, representing about 90% of all tech occupations.

The organization announced the new resources at its CompTIA ChannelCon and Partner Summit conference. “We want people to associate CompTIA with the competencies and skills to work in technology,” Thibodeaux said.

August 2024

Where STEM jobs pay the most

A new study conducted by Germany-based biotechnology provider Cytena shows that California provides the highest average salaries in the U.S. for those working in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) professions.

Cytena analyzed salary data for more than 75 STEM jobs listed on company review website Glassdoor to determine which states in the U.S. paid the most for technology talent. California ranks first with an average salary of $124,937 across all the jobs in the study, which included positions ranging from medical professionals to mathematicians and data scientists to network and software engineers. Washington state placed a close second with the average annual salary falling just below $124,000, and New York landed in third place with an average annual salary of $114,437. Following the top three, Nevada, Maryland, Massachusetts, Idaho, Hawaii, Colorado, and Connecticut rounded out the top ten states in the U.S. that pay the highest salaries for STEM-related positions.

July 2024

SysAdmin Day 2024: Celebrate your systems administrators

Friday, July 26 marks the 25^th annual System Administrator Appreciation Day. Always celebrated on the last Friday in July, SysAdmin Day recognizes IT professionals who spend their days ensuring organizations and the infrastructure supporting them run smoothly. Some may say it is a thankless job, which is why Ted Kekatos created the day to honor the men and women working to install and configure hardware and software, manage networks and technology tools, help end users, and monitor the performance of the entire environment.

Network and systems admins field complaint calls and solve incidents for end users, often without hearing how much they helped their colleagues. The unsung heroes of IT, sysadmins deserve this day of recognition — they might even deserve a gesture or gift to acknowledge all the long hours they work and how much they do behind the scenes.

July 2024

NetBrain launches network automation certification program

NetBrain Technologies debuted its Network Automation Certification Program, which will recognize engineers with advanced network automation skills. The program will enable network engineers to validate their skills and communicate the skillsets to others, according to NetBrain. Initial exams for the program will be offered October 3 following the NetBrain Live Conference in Boston.

NetBrain currently lists three network automation certifications on its website:

NetBrain Certified Automation Associate (NCAA): This certification demonstrates a mastery of the essentials of NetBrain Automation. Engineers with this certification can design, build, and implement automation that can be scaled networkwide to achieve an organization’s automation goals.

NetBrain Certified Automation Professional (NCAP): This certification validates network engineers as experts with proficiencies in network automation to enhance critical troubleshooting and diagnostic workflows across network operations, security, and IT infrastructures.

NetBrain Certified Automation Architect (NCAE): This certification distinguishes network engineers as network automation visionaries capable of shaping a corporate NetDevOps strategy from initial concept design and rollout through operation and enablement.

July 2024

Skillsoft develops genAI skills program with Microsoft

Skillsoft announced it collaborated with Microsoft to develop its AI Skill Accelerator program, which will help organizations upskill their workforce to effectively use Microsoft AI technologies such as Copilot and Azure Open AI as well as generative AI technologies more broadly. The goal is to drive improved business productivity and innovation using genAI applications more effectively.

“This collaboration with Microsoft is the first of many AI learning experiences we will deliver to help our customers and their talent—from everyday end users to business leaders to AI developers—acquire the skills and tools they need to succeed in the age of AI,” said Ron Hovsepian, executive chair at Skillsoft, in a statement. According to Skillsoft’s annual IT Skills and Salary report that surveyed 5,700 tech professionals worldwide, 43% of respondents say their team’s skills in AI need improvement.

Skillsoft’s AI Skill Accelerator offers a blended learning experience, including on-demand courses, one-on-one and group coaching, live instructor-led training, and hands-on practice labs. According to Skillsoft, the program will enable customers to:

Assess the current state of AI-related technology and leadership skills across the workforce

Index skills to make data-driven decisions about where talent can drive strategic business outcomes with AI

Develop AI skills rapidly with emerging training methods powered by Microsoft’s Azure Open AI

Reassess existing talent and skills gaps through post-training benchmarks

“Microsoft and Skillsoft have a long-standing relationship and share a common goal to enable AI transformation across every area of business,” said Jeana Jorgensen, corporate vice president of worldwide learning at Microsoft, in a statement. “This learning experience is designed to empower individuals and organizations to harness the full capabilities of generative AI, Microsoft Copilot, and Microsoft’s AI apps and services.”

July 2024

Tech industry adds jobs, IT unemployment increases

Data from IT employment trackers shows that the technology industry added more than 7,500 new workers in June, while at the same time the overall unemployment rate for IT pros increased.

According to CompTIA, the tech industry added some 7,540 new workers in June, which marks the biggest monthly increase so far this year. CompTIA’s analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data also shows that the positive growth was offset by a loss of 22,000 tech occupations throughout the U.S. economy. “Despite pockets of growth, the recent data indicates a degree of downward pressure on tech employment,“ said Tim Herbert, chief research officer, CompTIA, in a statement. “A combination of factors, including AI FOMO, likely contributes to segments of employers taking a wait and see approach with tech hiring.”

Separately, Janco Associates reported that the overall unemployment rate for IT pros in June grew to 5.9%, which is higher than the 4.1% U.S. national unemployment rate. Janco Associates also estimated that 7,700 jobs were added to the IT job market in May 2024. “The number of unemployed IT Pros rose from 129,000 to 147,000. There still is a skills mismatch as positions continue to go unfilled as the available IT Pros do not have the requisite training and experience required. The BLS data shows that around 78,000 IT pros were hired but that 147,000 are looking for work,” Janco Associates reported.

July 2024

CompTIA Network+ cert gets an update

CompTIA updated its Network+ certification to include more extensive coverage of modern network environments, factors related to physical network installations, and know-how to better secure and harden networks.

Software-defined networking (SDN) and SD-WAN are covered in the updated Network+ exam, or N10-009. According to CompTIA, “the program introduces infrastructure as code (IaC), which is considered a transformative approach that leverages code for improved provisioning and support for computing infrastructure.”

The updated Network+ certification program also now integrates zero-trust architecture and other forms of network fortification. Read more in the full story: CompTIA updates Network+ certification

June 2024

AWS adds two AI-focused certifications

Amazon Web Services (AWS) launched two new certifications in artificial intelligence for IT professionals looking to boost their skills and land AI-related jobs. The additional know-how will help practitioners secure jobs that require emerging AI skills, which could offer a 47% higher salary in IT, according to an AWS study.

AWS Certified AI Practitioner is a foundational program that validates knowledge of AI, machine learning (ML), and generative AI concepts and use cases, according to AWS. Candidates who are familiar with using AI/ML technologies on AWS and who complete a 120-minute, 85-question course will be able to sharpen their skills with fundamental concepts as well as use cases for AI, ML, and genAI. The exam will cover topics such as prompt engineering, responsible AI, security and compliance for AI systems, and more.

AWS Certified Machine Learning Engineer—Associate is a 170-minute exam with 85 questions that validates technical ability to implement ML workloads in production and to operationalize them. Individuals with at least one year of experience using Amazon SageMaker and other ML engineering AWS services would be good candidates for this certification. The exam will cover topics such as data preparation for ML models, feature engineering, model training, security, and more.

Registration for both new AWS certifications opens August 13.

June 2024

Cisco unveils AI-focused certification

Cisco’s new AI certification aims to help prepare IT pros to design, provision and optimize networks and systems needed for demanding AI/ML workloads. Unveiled at its Cisco Live conference in Las Vegas, the Cisco Certified Design Expert (CCDE)-AI Infrastructure certification is a vendor-agnostic, expert-level certification. With it, tech professionals will be able to design network architectures optimized for AI workloads, and “they’ll be able to do this while incorporating the unique business requirements of AI, such as trade-offs for cost optimization and power, and the matching of computing power and cloud needs to measured carbon use,” wrote Par Merat, vice president of Cisco Learning and Certifications, in a blog post about the new cert.

According to Cisco, the new CCDE-AI Infrastructure certification addresses topics including designing for GPU optimization as well as building high-performance generative AI network fabrics. Those seeking this certification will also learn about sustainability and compliance of networks that support AI. The skills will be needed across organizations, according to the Cisco AI Readiness Index, which found that 90% of organizations are investing to try to overcome AI skills gaps. Read more here: Cisco debuts CCDE-AI Infrastructure certification

June 2024

U.S. cybersecurity talent demand outpaces supply

As businesses continue to seek cybersecurity talent, the current supply of skilled workers will not meet the demand in 2024, according to recent data from CyberSeek, a data analysis and aggregation tool powered by a collaboration among Lightcast, NICE, and CompTIA.

There are only enough available workers to fill 85% of the current cybersecurity jobs throughout the U.S. economy, according to CyberSeek data, and more than 225,000 workers are needed to close the cybersecurity skills gap. The data also shows that job postings for all tech occupations declined by 37% between May 2023 and April 2024.

“Although demand for cybersecurity jobs is beginning to normalize to pre-pandemic levels, the longstanding cyber talent gap persists,” said Will Markow, vice president of applied research at Lightcast, in a statement. “At the same time, new threats and technologies are causing cybersecurity skill requirements to evolve at a breakneck pace, forcing employers, educators, and individuals to proactively anticipate and prepare for an ever-changing cyber landscape.”

Positions in the highest demand include network engineers, systems administrators, cybersecurity engineers, cybersecurity analysts, security engineers, systems engineers, information systems security officers, network administrators, information security analysts, and software engineers, according to the CyberSeek data.

“Building a robust cybersecurity presence often requires changes in talent acquisition strategies and tactics,” said Hannah Johnson, senior vice president, tech talent programs, CompTIA, in a statement. “That can include upskilling less experienced cybersecurity professionals for more advanced roles, or hiring people who demonstrate subject matter expertise via professional certifications or other credentials.”

June 2024

Average salary for IT pros surpasses $100k

Recent employment data shows that the median salary for IT professionals is now $100,399, with total compensation (including bonuses and fringe benefits) reaching $103,692. Management consulting firm Janco Associates, Inc. reported that IT salaries have risen by 3.28% in the past 12 months, even while the unemployment rate for IT workers hits 5%. Executives continue to see the biggest paychecks with total compensation packages increasing by 7.48% and median compensation reaching $184,354.

“Salary compression” is another trend Janco Associates noted. This occurs when new hires are offered salaries at the higher end of the pay range for existing positions, often getting paid more than current employees in the same roles.

Midsized enterprise companies are seeing more attrition than their large enterprise counterparts, while salaries in midsized companies are also rising faster than they are in large enterprises. Salary levels in midsized enterprises increased 5.46% versus 2.56% in larger enterprises, according to Janco Associates.

May 2024

AI, IT operations among the most in-demand IT skills

New research and survey results from IDC show that a growing lack of in-demand IT skills could be negatively impacting businesses’ bottom lines.

The IDC report, Enterprise Resilience: IT Skilling Strategies, 2024, reveals the most in-demand skills at enterprise organizations right now. Among the 811 respondents, artificial intelligence tops the list, cited by 45% of respondents, followed closely by IT operations (44%) and cloud solutions-architecture (36%). Other skills in demand right now include: API integration (33%), generative AI (32%), cloud solutions-data management/storage (32%), data analysis (30%), cybersecurity/data security (28%), IoT software development (28%), and IT service management (27%).

Nearly two-thirds (63%) of the IT leaders at North American organizations said the lack of these skills has delayed digital transformation initiatives, most by an average of three to 10 months. Survey respondents detailed the negative impacts of lacking skills in their IT organizations:

Missed revenue goals: 62%

Product delays: 61%

Quality problems: 59%

Declining customer satisfaction: 59%

Lost revenue: 57%

Considering these survey results, IDC predicts that by 2026, 90% of organizations worldwide will feel the pain of the IT skills crisis, potentially costing up to $5.5 trillion in delays, quality issues, and revenue loss. “Getting the right people with the right skills into the right roles has never been so difficult,” says Gina Smith, PhD, research director for IDC’s IT Skills for Digital Business practice, said in a statement. “As IT skills shortages widen and the arrival of new technology accelerates, enterprises must find creative ways to hire, train, upskill, and reskill their employees. A culture of learning is the single best way to get there.”

May 2024

Organizations abandon IT projects due to skills gap

A lack of specific technology skills worries IT executives, who report they will not be able to adopt new technologies, maintain legacy systems, keep business opportunities, and retain clients if the skills gap persists.

In a recent survey by online professional training provider Pluralsight, 96% of technologists said their workload has increased due to the skills gap, and 78% also reported that they abandoned projects partway through because they didn’t have employees with the necessary IT skills to successfully finish. While most organizations (78%) said their skills gap has improved since last year, survey respondents reported that cybersecurity, cloud, and software development are the top three areas in which a skills gap exists. IT executives surveyed said they worry the skills gap in their organizations will make it difficult to:

Adopt new technology: 57%

Maintain legacy systems: 53%

Keep business opportunities: 44%

Retain clients: 33%

Pluralsight surveyed 1,400 executives and IT professionals across the U.S., U.K., and India to learn more about the technical skills gap and how organizations are addressing a lack of expertise in specific technology areas.

May 2024

Lack of skills stymies network automation efforts

Network automation continues to challenge IT leaders, and one factor is a lack of skills on staff.

When research firm Enterprise Management Associates surveyed 354 IT professionals about network automation, just 18% rated their network automation strategies as a complete success, and 54% said they have achieved partial success. The remaining 38% said they were uncertain of the level of success achieved or admitted failure with their network automation projects.

More than one-fourth (26.8%) of the respondents pointed to staffing issues such as skills gaps and staff churn as a business challenge. “The most challenging thing for me is the lack of network engineers who can contribute to automation,” said a network engineer at a midmarket business services company in the EMA report. “The community is small, and it’s hard to find people who can help you solve a problem.”

April 2024

CompTIA plans AI certification roadmap

IT certification and training group CompTIA is expanding its product and program roadmap to meet the growing demand for AI-related skill sets.

AI becoming critical to existing job functions. At the same time, new roles are starting to land on employers’ radar. “Two entirely new job roles—prompt engineering and AI systems architects—are emerging. These positions align with the AI priorities of many organizations,” said Teresa Sears, vice president of product management at CompTIA.

Millions of IT professionals will need to acquire new AI skills to meet the needs of the job market, said Thomas Reilly, CompTIA’s chief product officer, in a statement. “We intend to create a range of certifications and training offerings spanning the complete career arc, from foundational knowledge for pre-career and early career learners to advanced skills for professionals with years of workforce experience.”

February 2024

IT job growth flattened in 2023

The number of new IT jobs created in calendar year 2023 flattened with just 700 positions added, which signals continued concerns about the economy and growing demand for skills focused on emerging technologies. For comparison, 2022 saw 267,000 jobs added, with industry watchers attributing the dramatic difference to tech layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.

According to Janco Associates, despite companies adding some 21,300 jobs in the fourth quarter of 2023, the overall increase for the entire calendar year still comes to just 700 new positions.

“Based on our analysis, the IT job market and opportunities for IT professionals are poor at best. In the past 12 months, telecommunications lost 26,400 jobs, content providers lost 9,300 jobs, and other information services lost 10,300 jobs,” said M. Victor Janulaitis, CEO at Janco, in a statement. “Gainers in the same period were computer system designers gaining 32,300 jobs and hosting providers gaining 14,000.”

January 2024

Positive hiring plans for new year

Robert Half reports that the job market will remain resilient heading into 2024. According to the talent solutions provider’s recent survey, more than half of U.S. companies plan to increase hiring in the first half of 2024. While the data is not limited to the IT sector, the research shows 57% plan to add new permanent positions in the first six months of the year while another 39% anticipate hiring for vacant positions and 67% will hire contract workers as a staffing strategy.

Specific to the technology sector, 69% of the more than 1,850 hiring managers surveyed reported they would be adding new permanent roles for those professions. Still, challenges will persist into the new year, according to Robert Half, which reported 90% of hiring managers have difficulty finding skilled professionals and 58% said it takes longer to hire for open roles compared to a year ago.

December 2023

Cisco CCNA and AWS cloud networking rank among highest paying IT certifications

Cloud expertise and security know-how remain critical in building today’s networks, and these skills pay top dollar, according to Skillsoft’s annual ranking of the most valuable IT certifications. At number one on its list of the 20 top-paying IT certifications is Google Cloud-Professional Cloud Architect with an average annual salary of $200,960.

In addition to several cloud certifications, there are five security, networking, and system architect certifications on Skillsoft’s top 20 list:

ISACA Certified Information Security Manager (CISM): Average annual salaries for those with CISM certification is $167,396, a slight increase over last year’s 162,347 salary.

ISC2 Certification Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP): This certification consistently delivers an average annual salary of $156,699, according to Skillsoft.

ISACA Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA): Professionals with a CISA certification earn an average annual salary of $154,500, an increase over last year’s $142,336.

AWS Certified Advanced Networking-Specialty: This certification commands an annual average salary of $153,031.

Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA): This certification commands an average annual salary of $128,651.

November 2023

Source link

February 8, 2025
Your handy productivity toolbox – Computerworld

First, it must be enabled (it’s off by default). Then a shared key must be generated and used to get the devices talking to each other, after which a layout can be arranged. There are all kinds of controls that come into play: a dozen for behavior, five keyboard shortcuts, and a smattering of advanced settings and troubleshooting tools. Figure 11 shows two of my laptops (P16 and X380, from left to right) set up to permit the cursor to track between them.

Figure 11: MWB lets you arrange systems (two laptops in this case) in line to track the cursor across them.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

New+: Lets you create files and folders from your own personalized template set. You can use it to set up text, Office, and other files with predefined info. For instance, you could create a file with the address block, date placeholder, and recipient placeholder for a business letter; another with layouts and column heads for invoice spreadsheets; and others for commonly needed files for everyday use. The New+ settings let you change the default template location and hide filename extensions and starting characters.

Peek: Another File Explorer extension that provides quick, transient access to file previews. Highlight a file, press Ctrl + spacebar, and a preview window opens. This works especially well for screencaps; as demonstrated in Figure 12, it’s easy to see details captured in a screenshot without actually opening the image file. (Notice the Peek icon up top, a magnifying glass on a file folder.) Peek has very simple controls, too.

Figure 12: Highlight a file, press Ctrl + spacebar, and get the preview.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

PowerRename: Provides a context menu entry (Windows Shell extension) for advanced bulk file renaming in File Explorer using search and replace or regular expression syntax (regex). Regex is an extremely powerful technique, and it’s a good idea to have some knowledge of how it works before you use PowerRename to mess around with real, live files on your PC. Microsoft Learn has a nice regex tutorial for Visual Studio that covers the basics of characters, operators, constructs, and patterns.

Figure 13 shows me renaming some of the image files for this very story: it’s a useful tool.

Figure 13: I highlighted four filenames and Shift-clicked to open this PowerRename window. It’s set up to replace “pt25” with “PowToy25.”

Ed Tittel / Foundry

PowerToys Run: A quick pop-up launcher that works like the Run command window. Shortcut key combo: Alt + spacebar. Note that these keys are adjacent on US QWERTY keyboards for super-quick access and use. It’s faster and easier to access than the Run box, and its search function is likewise lightning fast. Click any item in the search results to launch and go.

Figure 14 shows a generic PowerToys Run box that puts its capabilities on display: run executables; calculate simple equations; search previous inputs, files, folders and programs; and navigate the Registry. The better you know it, the better you’ll like it!

Figure 14: Press Alt + spacebar to get this nifty box offering a variety of instant actions.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Quick Accent: Longtime windows users know they can use all kinds of Esc and Alt key combos to emit odd and interesting characters from Windows keyboards. Quick Accent provides another way to access accents, fractions, diacritical marks, and other characters using a more visual approach.

As you can see in Figure 15, holding down the 1 key and hitting the left arrow puts lots of 1s down before the accent bar pops up above, with various sub- and superscript options plus fractions with a 1 numerator. Interesting!

Figure 15: The Quick Accent bar appears above the Notepad window: that’s where you pick the character you want.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

This one takes some playing with to get used to but can then be quite handy. When you don’t need the Quick Accent toolbar anymore, you must disable this PowerToy to make it vanish.

Registry Preview: Provides a clean, simple look at the contents of any Windows Registry file. You can launch this app from PowerToys Settings > Registry Preview, or else hold down the Shift key when you click on a .reg file in File Explorer, then select Preview from the resulting pop-up menu. Those who occasionally (or regularly) work on the Registry directly will find this a pleasant, lightweight alternative to RegEdit.exe.

Screen Ruler: Provides a simple, visual way to measure pixels on a Windows display. It also includes horizontal and vertical measurement capability; offers continuous measuring; and provides color, color edge, and edge detection controls (see PowerToys Settings > Screen Ruler for all the details). Its shortcut key combo is Win key + Shift + M.

Figure 16 shows the ruler at work, showing the pixel count between two desktop background elements. As with Quick Accent, you must disable Screen Ruler to turn off the top center ruler toolbar when you don’t wish to see or use it.

Figure 16: A faint red line labeled “345” shows the distance in pixels from the circle to the logo.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Shortcut Guide: A context-sensitive listing of keyboard shortcuts that shows up in Windows 10 or 11 when shortcut key combo Win key + Shift + / (right-slash) is pressed. If opened on the desktop (as in Figure 17), it shows Windows shortcuts. Opened inside any application, it shows that app’s shortcuts instead. Hit Esc to close the guide. One of my personal favorites, this tool helps me remember more shortcuts than my poor brain can hold.

Figure 17: Combined with the Windows key, these are the basic Windows shortcuts, neatly laid out in Shortcut Guide.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Text Extractor: Copies text from any portion of the Windows display, including inside images or videos. Microsoft recommends using the relatively new “Text actions” capability inside the Snipping Tool instead of this tool. Indeed, Text Extractor is disabled by default. But when enabled, it responds to the shortcut key combo Win key + Shift + T.

Once you define a rectangular region on screen, Text Extractor parses all text it finds into the clipboard. You can then paste that text into an editor or text input of your choice. I used it to grab the end of the Lenovo logo on my desktop, which you can see pasted into Notepad in Figure 18.

Figure 18: When I trace a rectangle around “novo” (white text on red background), Text Extractor pastes it into Notepad.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Workspaces: A tool for grouping a set of applications together, with positioning control and unique configuration settings. The shortcut to launch this tool, if enabled, is Win key + Ctrl + ` (grave accent or backtick). Pressing that shortcut opens the Workspaces editor and lets you choose from predefined layouts (called Templates) or create your own unique layout (called Custom).

You can see a custom workspace in Figure 19, which shows Chrome at left, PowerToys above and Edge below in the center, and Copilot to the right.

Figure 19: Workspaces makes it easy to set up and switch among common working scenarios.

Ed Tittel / Foundry

Workspaces is helpful when you run specific work scenarios and need groups of applications to make them fly. (See “The ultimate Windows app launcher” for more info.) Works on both single and multiple monitor setups.

ZoomIt: A longtime favorite among Sysinternals users, PowerToys has brought this nifty screen zoom, annotation, and recording tool under the PowerToys umbrella. It’s a great addition for those who’ve never used it; it’s even more convenient for longtime Sysinternals fans and users (like yours truly, who had the pleasure of writing for Winternals in Austin in the 1990s). The best way to dig into ZoomIt is to read the Microsoft Learn article “ZoomIt utility,” which includes an animated demo that shows you exactly how it works.

This concludes the overview of the current PowerToys lineup as of early February 2025. For more about working with PowerToys, see “10 PowerToys you should use on Windows.”

In the next section, you’ll learn a bit about what the PowerToys team is thinking about and working on, by way of possible new PowerToys.

What’s coming for PowerToys

If you visit the PowerToys roadmap, you’ll see information about what the Microsoft development team currently has in its sights. (Shortcut Guide v2 gets my vote.) But because PowerToys is an open-source effort and takes input from countless volunteers who contribute ideas and code, this doesn’t cover everything that might show up in the toybox.

Given those provisos and qualifications, here’s a short-ish list of what’s up with possible enhancements or new PowerToys:

The in-house team is always working on the PowerToys installer and UI bits and pieces (including the taskbar icon, flyout menu, and more). Right now if you look back at Figure 1 you’ll see that the PowerToys that function as apps (e.g. Color Picker, Environment Variables, FancyZones, Hosts File Editor, PowerToys Run, Text Extractor, Registry Preview, Screen Ruler, Shortcut Guide, and Workspaces) all appear as icons on that flyout menu. As these items come and go, this lineup will change to match.

Each new PowerToys release comes with release notes that include a “What’s New” section. This is a great way to find (and see) what kinds of things are popping up inside the toybox.

PowerToys works well with the WinGet package manager and includes its own update button on the “General” pane in PowerToys Settings. It provides notifications when updates are ready and makes it easy to update. Personally, I tend to catch updates through WinGet because I run it on my Windows systems every other day.

In online forums recently, PowerToys team lead Clint Rutkas has teased adding transcoding capabilities for audio and video files within the Advanced Paste PowerToy.

Given that the Sysinternals tool ZoomIt is now integrated into PowerToys, one has to ponder the possibility that others in that collection may make their way into the toybox, too. Learn more about the outstanding Sysinternals tool set at its Microsoft home page.

Don’t you need some PowerToys?

As somebody who’s used some of these wonderful programs and extensions since the late 1990s, my own opinion on using PowerToys is an emphatic “Yes! May I have another?” But you’ll have to try them out for yourself and see how you like them if you’re not using them already. If you are, hopefully you’ve seen something new or intriguing here that you’ll want to try out. Enjoy!

This story was originally launched in October 2020 and updated in February 2025.

Source link

February 8, 2025

Previous Page
1 … 7 8 9 10 11 12
Next Page

Chassis	2U rack chassis	Row 0 – Cell 2
CPU	12-core 2.9GHz AMD EPYC 7272	Row 1 – Cell 2
Memory	64GB DDR4 ECC RDIMM (max 512GB)	Row 2 – Cell 2
Storage	12 x SATA LFF/SFF	Row 3 – Cell 2
Drives included	10 x 20TB Synology HAT5310 LFF, 2 x 3.84GB Synology SAT5221 SSDs	Row 4 – Cell 2
RAID	RAID6 with hot-spare and RAID1 SSD cache	Row 5 – Cell 2
Expansion	2 x PCIe Gen 3 slots	Row 6 – Cell 2
Network	Gigabit management, 2 x 10GBase-T data	Row 7 – Cell 2
Power	2 x hot-plug 550W PSUs	Row 8 – Cell 2
Management	Web browser	Row 9 – Cell 2
Warranty	5 years	Row 10 – Cell 2

Tag: new technology 2024

Expert’s Rating

Pros

Cons

Our Verdict

Best Prices Today: Total Security

What does Bitdefender Total Security include?

How much does Bitdefender Total Security cost?

Key features of Bitdefender Total Security

Installation and user interface

Virus, malware, and threat protection

Real-time protection

Scheduled and manual scans

Vulnerability scanner

Firewall

Scam protection

VPN

Parental controls

Additional features

Anti-Theft

Browser extensions

File Shredder

OneClick Optimizer

Safepay

Customer support

Updates and maintenance

Performance

Is Bitdefender Total Security worth it?

What is Ray Reconstruction?

DLSS 4 Ray Reconstruction Image Quality

The Downsides of Ray Reconstruction

Performance Testing

GeForce RTX 5090

GeForce RTX 4070 Super

GeForce RTX 3090

GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

What We Learned

Shopping Shortcuts:

What is the best printer overall?

Best printers of 2025

Know what you want your printer to do

Budget

Should you buy a printer with an ink subscription?

What are the different types of printer?

How much should a home printer cost?

Mapping the state of abortion access in the U.S.

Center for Reproductive Rights Abortion Laws Map

Guttmacher Institute’s Interactive Law Map

Noise for Now Clinic Map

Fake Clinic (AKA “Crisis Pregnancy Centers”) Maps

Abortion travel times by congressional district

Abortion and emergency contraception access

I Need An A

National Network of Abortion Funds

Abortion Finder

Abortion On Our Own Terms

Plan C

You Always Have Options

Identity-based and regional resources

Asking for a Friend

Reproductive Agency Honoring Impacted Muslims (RAHIM)

Right to an abortion for immigrants

Indigenous Women Rising (Rain Fund)

Medical and legal support

National Abortion Hotline

Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline

All Options Talkline

Repro Legal Helpline

Abortion Defense Network

2019

First mentions of Dojo

2020

Musk begins the Dojo roadshow

2021

Tesla makes Dojo official

2022

Tesla reveals Dojo progress

2023

A ‘long-shot bet‘

2024