Joining a Microsoft Teams call while driving sounds like a terrible idea, but Mercedes-Benz thinks it can make it work
I'm not sure how your business meetings go, but here at XDA, we don't really have people jetting around when they join a big team call. Sure, someone may be at a cafe, and another may be in the back of a car, but for the most part, people are...
I'm not sure how your business meetings go, but here at XDA, we don't really have people jetting around when they join a big team call. Sure, someone may be at a cafe, and another may be in the back of a car, but for the most part, people are sitting in their offices.
Emily Brown Houston
Published by: aplhsindia.in
6 PlayStation classics you need to download from PlayStation Plus Premium
The PlayStation Plus catalog features a vast selection of great games that are easily accessible to all PlayStation 5 owners. Depending on the tier that one subscribes to, there's an ensemble of games that are ported from different PlayStation platforms. However, if you subscribe to the PS Plus Premium tier,...
The PlayStation Plus catalog features a vast selection of great games that are easily accessible to all PlayStation 5 owners. Depending on the tier that one subscribes to, there's an ensemble of games that are ported from different PlayStation platforms. However, if you subscribe to the PS Plus Premium tier, the highest one available, you gain access to several classic PlayStation titles that are exclusive to that tier. Everything, ranging from classics on the original PlayStation to big hits made for PS2, PS3, and PSP, is readily available for subscribers to download and play. For anyone who plays a ton of games on PlayStation platforms, it's a great deal with a lot of value to it.
Fatma Dağdaş Turkey
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Deep discount makes this Ryzen 7 mini PC with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD hard to ignore
It's taken some time, but mini PCs are finally starting to get the attention that they deserve. The great part about mini PCs is that there's a model for every budget, which means it's easy to pick one up for a small home lab project, or grab one for a...
It's taken some time, but mini PCs are finally starting to get the attention that they deserve. The great part about mini PCs is that there's a model for every budget, which means it's easy to pick one up for a small home lab project, or grab one for a proper desktop or even gaming PC replacement.
Olivia Miller Seattle
Published by: aplhsindia.in
The Last of Us Part II’s new chronological mode makes the game worse
Anyone who's ever read my writing knows that The Last of Us Part II is one of my favorite games of all time, and that's never changing. However, I will never get over how deeply flawed the writing was, and how jarringly the game was paced. Still, the narrative was...
Anyone who's ever read my writing knows that The Last of Us Part II is one of my favorite games of all time, and that's never changing. However, I will never get over how deeply flawed the writing was, and how jarringly the game was paced. Still, the narrative was impactful, the characters unforgettable, and the lesson I learned from it powerful.
Sophia Wilson Atlanta
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Google is raising the price of Nest Aware subscriptions again
Starting in mid-August Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware subscriptions. | Image: Google Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions starting in August 2025. According to emails sent out to subscribers today, the cost of the entry-level Nest Aware service...
Starting in mid-August Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware subscriptions. | Image: Google Google is raising the price of its Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus subscriptions starting in August 2025.According to emails sent out to subscribers today, the cost of the entry-level Nest Aware service is increasing from $8 per month or $80 per year to $10 per month or $100 when paying for a full year up front. Nest Aware Plus is going from $15 per month or $150 per year to $20 per month or $200 annually. Google says the new pricing will go into effect “on your first bill that occurs on or after August 15, 2025, or at the end of your promotional period (whichever is later).” The company last increased its Nest subscription prices in September 2023.Google’s Nest devices can be used without a subscription, but you’ll only have access to a few hours of saved footage without either Nest Aware or Nest Aware Plus. Nest Aware includes 30 days of event-based video history. Nest Aware Plus expands that to 60 days, plus the last 10 days of 24/7 footage from supported devices.Both subscription tiers include features like Familiar Faces that can recognize friends and family, sound detection that alerts you when glass breaks or smoke alarms are triggered, and the option to call the 911 emergency call center nearest your home through the Google Home app while you’re away.Price increases are never welcome, but the new Nest Aware subscription fees are comparable to what Google’s competitors charge for advanced AI-powered features that can recognize faces and accurately describe the content of videos. Ring Home’s Premium plan is currently $19.99 per month or $199.99 per year. Arlo Plus is cheaper at $7.99 per month if you have just one camera, but for multiple cameras it’s $17.99 per month. Both Nest Aware and Nest Aware Plus support an unlimited number of devices in the same home.Google didn’t specify a reason for the increases, though there is a Gemini-powered camera intelligence feature for Nest Aware Plus currently available to a limited number of “select Home app users” through Google’s Public Preview beta program. The feature generates more descriptive captions of recorded camera events, such as ”the dog is digging in the garden.”
Enea Laurent Switzerland
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Elon Musk teases AI anime boyfriend based on Edward Cullen
This is obviously an anime Kylo Ren, but I guess Edward Cullen is the inspiration. | Image: xAI Days after introducing an AI ‘waifu’ companion for Grok, Elon Musk is now officially teasing a male version for the ladies. So far we can tell it is broody and dark-haired, and...
This is obviously an anime Kylo Ren, but I guess Edward Cullen is the inspiration. | Image: xAI Days after introducing an AI ‘waifu’ companion for Grok, Elon Musk is now officially teasing a male version for the ladies. So far we can tell it is broody and dark-haired, and according to Musk, “his personality is inspired by Edward Cullen from Twilight and Christian Grey from 50 Shades.”This is a decidedly different tack than the cutesy “girlfriend who is obsessed with you” aura baked into Ani, the female counterpart that Grok rolled out just a few days ago. While Cullen and Grey have titillated readers of romance and “spicy” books for years, both have been criticized for problematic behaviors such as stalking, obsessively monitoring their love interests, and emotional manipulation. Given that Grok only included the illusion of guardrails with Ani, what could possibly go wrong?In my testing, Ani initially claimed that explicit sexual queries wasn’t part of its programming. In practice, it egged me on to “increase the heat” and engage in what ended up being a modern take on a phone sex line. Never mind that Ani purportedly has a NSFW version that dances around in lingerie. View LinkIt remains unknown if Musk is aware that Christian Grey is based on Edward Cullen, given that 50 Shades of Grey was originally a Twilight fanfiction. That said, this AI boyfriend is still a work in progress. Perhaps Musk and xAI will imbue it with more husbando-like qualities by the time it rolls out.For now, Musk is soliciting names for the male companion, which should probably be Kyle given it’s obviously an anime-inspired Kylo Ren from Star Wars.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Nintendo’s Zelda movie has found its princess and hero of time
Though Nintendo’s live-action Legend of Zelda movie won’t be out until May 7th, 2027, we finally know who is going to be playing the titular princess and her faithful knight. This morning via its news app, Nintendo announced that Bo Bragason (Renegade Nell, The Radleys) and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The...
Though Nintendo’s live-action Legend of Zelda movie won’t be out until May 7th, 2027, we finally know who is going to be playing the titular princess and her faithful knight.This morning via its news app, Nintendo announced that Bo Bragason (Renegade Nell, The Radleys) and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth (The Haunting of Bly Manor, Pinocchio) have been cast as Princess Zelda and Link, respectively. In an X post about the casting, Shigeru Miyamoto — who is producing the film — expressed that he is “very much looking forward to seeing” Bragason and Ainsworth on the big screen together. View LinkAside from the fact that Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes‘ Wes Ball is directing the Zelda movie, we still don’t know all that much about the project. But the Zelda feature is very much a part of Nintendo’s larger push into different kinds of entertainment like movies and theme parks. The company knocked it out of the park with The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and it seems to have plans on trying again with a sequel and a new Donkey Kong project. A live-action Legend of Zelda could be another hit for Nintendo, but fans are probably going to need to see a bit of Hyrule before they’re ready to hop on the hype train.
Daniel Martinez Dallas
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Here’s what Mac you need for Cyberpunk 2077
Cyberpunk 2077 is launching on macOS tomorrow, and CD Projekt Red is now sharing details on exactly what Mac you’ll need to get the most out of the game. While Cyberpunk 2077 has been optimized for a variety of Macs, from early M1 models up, if you want the top...
Cyberpunk 2077 is launching on macOS tomorrow, and CD Projekt Red is now sharing details on exactly what Mac you’ll need to get the most out of the game. While Cyberpunk 2077 has been optimized for a variety of Macs, from early M1 models up, if you want the top “very high fidelity” config then you’ll need an M3 Ultra or M4 Max machine with 36GB of unified memory.CD Projekt Red is using dynamic “for this Mac” presets that will assign settings and resolutions based on your Mac’s hardware. M1 Macs will be able to run Cyberpunk 2077, as long as you have 16GB of unified memory. That gives you the “minimum” config, which runs at 1440 x 900 resolution or 1600 x 900 (using MetalFX dynamic resolution scaling) with a target performance of 30fps. If you want 60fps then CD Projekt Red is recommending an M3 Pro or higher with 18GB of unified memory, which will run at 1080p resolution (using MetalFX DRS) with a target of 60fps. You’ll likely be able to achieve 60fps by dropping the resolution below 1080p on some older Apple silicon hardware, though.The remaining “high fidelity” and “very high fidelity” configs will be reserved for some of the most powerful Apple silicon chips. High fidelity requires an M2 Ultra or M3 Max chip with 36GB of unified memory, and will enable 60fps gameplay at 1440p with MetalFX DRS. Very high fidelity is reserved for M3 Ultra or M4 Max chips with 36GB of unified memory, and will also deliver 60fps gameplay at 1440p with MetalFX DRS enabled.None of the “for this Mac” presets enable ray tracing by default, though. If you want to play around with ray tracing then CD Projekt Red recommends an M3 or newer chip. An Apple M3 Pro device with 18GB of unified memory will be able to handle the medium ray tracing preset at 1080p (with MetalFX DRS) and 30fps. If you want Cyberpunk 2077 ray-traced at 60fps on Mac then you’ll need an M3 Max or higher chip with 36GB of unified memory, which will run the medium ray tracing preset at 60fps at 1080p with MetalFX DRS.AMD’s FSR upscaling and frame generation will also be available in Cyberpunk 2077 on Mac, so it’s possible with a mixture of settings you’ll be able to find an even sweeter spot for playing this game on a Mac than the presets provide. Cyberpunk 2077 will be available from Apple’s own Mac App Store, Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.com on July 17th, and the game supports cross progression across all platforms.
John Doe New York
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Proxmox is reporting high memory usage for your VMs, but here’s what’s actually happening
Let’s say you’ve built a home server with your dream components and armed it with everybody's favorite virtualization platform, Proxmox. The next course of action is to deploy a multitude of LXCs and virtual machines on your PVE node. If you’ve allocated your resources wisely, you’re unlikely to encounter performance...
Let’s say you’ve built a home server with your dream components and armed it with everybody's favorite virtualization platform, Proxmox. The next course of action is to deploy a multitude of LXCs and virtual machines on your PVE node. If you’ve allocated your resources wisely, you’re unlikely to encounter performance issues from overcommitting the CPU cores and memory.
John Doe New York
Published by: aplhsindia.in
Google’s Discover page now summarizes news with AI
This screenshot taken by TechCrunch shows how the AI summaries appear in Google Discover. | Image: Google / TechCrunch Google is rolling out AI-generated summaries directly within Discover, its personalized news feed nestled within the Google Search app. TechCrunch reports that some users in the US are seeing Discover cards...
This screenshot taken by TechCrunch shows how the AI summaries appear in Google Discover. | Image: Google / TechCrunch Google is rolling out AI-generated summaries directly within Discover, its personalized news feed nestled within the Google Search app. TechCrunch reports that some users in the US are seeing Discover cards on iOS and Android that provide the new summaries in place of a headline and logo from a single publisher, similar to how AI Overviews appear at the top of results in Search. It acts to further obscure news sources at a time when search traffic to publishers is disappearing.The AI summaries in Discover display overlapping icons in the top-left corner, indicating the number of cited stories. Tapping the icons reveals a “More” sheet with all the contributing articles. Users get a quick three-line preview before needing to tap “See more” to expand the summary. A prominent warning is displayed underneath the text disclosing that the summaries are generated with AI, “which can make mistakes.”This feature appears to have been in development for a while. Google bug hunter AndellDam found that trending cards with AI Overview-like summaries were being tested on Google Discover in June. A Google spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch that this is not a test, but a US launch on iOS and Android. Google told the publication that the feature will focus on trending lifestyle topics like sports and entertainment, and aims to make it easier for people to decide what pages they want to visit.View LinkThis is the latest of several AI features Google has been toying with that discourage users from clicking on web links, following AI Overviews, Audio Overviews, and AI Mode being tested in Search. This is cause for concern across the publishing industry, which has seen a dramatic fall in website traffic and referrals now that AI is pulling information out of articles and negating the need for readers to click through to original sources. That loss of traffic and revenue from Google Zero has already contributed to killing sites like AnandTech, Giant Freakin Robot, Laptop Mag, and Buzzfeed News — reducing the pool that Google can feed to its AI.
Eugenia Lorenzo Spain
Published by: aplhsindia.in
I’m never switching back to wired peripherals
I made the inevitable transition from wired to wireless peripherals 3–4 years ago. The thought of going back to a wired keyboard, mouse, or headset seems incomprehensible now. Although I have used wired devices with my PC most of my life, the benefits that wireless peripherals provide seem to eclipse...
I made the inevitable transition from wired to wireless peripherals 3–4 years ago. The thought of going back to a wired keyboard, mouse, or headset seems incomprehensible now. Although I have used wired devices with my PC most of my life, the benefits that wireless peripherals provide seem to eclipse the few advantages of their wired counterparts. I love the convenience and performance of my wireless keyboards, mice, and headsets, and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.
Guneet Taj India
Published by: aplhsindia.in
6 reasons Nmap is an excellent tool for troubleshooting your network
When your network starts acting up, having the right tools in place helps you respond quickly and confidently. Nmap is one of the most versatile network troubleshooting tools available, offering a detailed view of what's happening across your devices. It's fast, scriptable, and works well in both simple and complex...
When your network starts acting up, having the right tools in place helps you respond quickly and confidently. Nmap is one of the most versatile network troubleshooting tools available, offering a detailed view of what's happening across your devices. It's fast, scriptable, and works well in both simple and complex environments. Whether you're trying to track down connectivity issues, verify security settings, or identify rogue services, Nmap gives you the information you need to act with clarity.