Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft is adding a useful feature to the Xbox PC app that should help save you some time if it turns out your setup won’t be able to run a particular game. The company started testing the game performance indicator in December and it’s rolling out the tool now. 

“The app compares the game’s performance on PCs with similar specs to yours to show a prediction of how well we expect the game to run,” Tila Nguyen, senior product manager lead for Xbox Experiences, wrote on the Xbox blog. “If your PC isn’t up to the task of running a graphically demanding game, you’ll be able to view the game’s system requirements to get more details on what you need to run the game.”

You may not see a performance check for every game, since Microsoft might not have enough information from other players’ PCs to be able to make a recommendation. This is particularly the case for new titles with a smaller install base.

Microsoft

This is a handy tool that should save you some wasted effort, even if you might be disappointed to find out a game you were excited for won’t work on your system. It could be especially welcome for those with a data cap. The feature should help them avoid wasting precious data by prompting them to refrain from downloading a game they can’t actually play.

It may also save players from resorting to third-party system requirement checkers, such as Can You Run It. Everything they need to know should be right there in the Xbox app.

In addition, the blog post notes that Microsoft recently improved navigation in the app. Navigation is now all in the sidebar and you can view game install progress via a queue on the bottom left of the window. You’ll get a notification when a game finishes installing too. Search is said to be better as well. It now includes EA Play and Ubisoft Connect titles in the results.

Japan has turned to the oceans to produce continuous, reliable, green energy. After years of development and real-world testing, the “Kairyu” (Seadragon?) underwater power generator will enter its commercial phase in the next decade.

Kairyu was a demonstrator designed to harness energy from undersea currents, which is different from tidal power generators. Undersea currents have a slower flow but might occur in a much larger area. It means more generators could be deployed, making the idea entirely scalable.

At a depth of 50 meters, the generator is also located in a safer location than tidal generators. Japan is hit by a significant number of typhoons every year, and they can generate massive waves that could put generators at risk.

Depth and orientation are maintained by a controlled buoyancy and turbine blades that make it easy and low energy to keep steady or come to the surface for repairs and maintenance.

Any undersea project is fraught with challenges as the oceans remain a harsh place for hardware. However, the tests showed this project and strategy could be one of the most cost-efficient, reliable, and scalable ways to harness clean energy.

It is much more efficient than wind energy and would be immensely less intermittent than solar. Japan isn’t an ideal place for solar energy anyway, and tidal generators are difficult to deploy because there are so many naval activities around Japan. Ultimately, these challenges have led Japanese researchers to create a considerably better opportunity.

Geek out with all the details from this IHI PDF document.

330-Ton Underwater Power Generator Heading For Deployment

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Because a pleasant night’s sleep void of nightmares is overrated, model builder and YouTuber North of the Border went and crafted this ‘realistic’ LEGO minifig, complete with a terrifying face and unholy finger and toenails. I think it goes without saying, but my wife is going to be annoyed that I insist on sleeping with the lights on tonight.

Those eyes. That mouth. Those nails! Nothing about this is okay, and I really wish North of the Border would have reconsidered the project before going through with it, and that the website I saw it at reconsidered before posting it. Yet here we are. I don’t like it here.

Well, at least it doesn’t move. At least there’s that. And don’t let that give you any new project ideas! Good lord – could you imagine this little creeper crawling out of your toy chest and sprinting across the room to the foot of your bed right when you’re about to turn the lights off for the night? Sweet dreams!

[via Neatorama]

Even having grown up using Commodore 64s, Apple IIs, and IBM PCs, I have no fondness for mechanical keyboards. I’m most happy with a set of short-travel, chiclet-style laptop keys under my fingers, but even I can feel myself being lured to the cult of mechanical keyboards by this impressive compact recreation of a …

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Back in 2017, Apple admitted that it released an update to slow down older iPhones with aging batteries to prevent them from suddenly shutting down. It’s been five years since then, but Apple still isn’t done dealing with its repercussions. According to The Guardian, the tech giant is now facing a legal claim in the UK filed by a consumer rights campaigner named Justin Gutmann at the Competition Appeals Tribunal. Gutmann argued that Apple didn’t disclose that it was going to deliberately throttle users’ phone before it did so and that the company didn’t give them the option to disable the setting. 

The complaint covers the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6S, 6S Plus, SE, 7, 7 Plus, 8, 8 Plus and iPhone X models. If you’ll recall, the company originally released the update that intentionally slows down devices for the iPhone 6, 6s and SE before it expanded the feature’s reach to more devices. Guttman’s complaint said Apple introduced the slowdown feature to disguise the fact that older batteries could no longer cope with new OS updates. “Instead of doing the honourable and legal thing by their customers and offering a free [battery] replacement, repair service or compensation, Apple instead misled people by concealing a tool in software updates that slowed their devices by up to 58 percent,” Guttman said. 

If Guttman wins, Apple may have to pay damages totaling up to £750 million to over 25 million people who purchased the affected phones in the UK. The company was previously fined €10 million in Italy over the same issue and for failing to provide customers with the necessary information for maintaining and replacing batteries. In 2020, it also agreed to pay up to $500 million to settle one of the US lawsuits it faced over the iPhone slowdown, which earned each claimant who took part up to $25. 

In a statement sent to The Guardian, Apple said:

“We have never – and would never – do anything to intentionally shorten the life of any Apple product, or degrade the user experience to drive customer upgrades. Our goal has always been to create products that our customers love, and making iPhones last as long as possible is an important part of that.”