There’s a new option for people in New York trying to figure out what to do with their bodies after they die. Over the weekend, Governor Kathy Hochul signed Assembly Bill A382 into law, which legalizes the process of natural organic reduction—more popularly known as human composting—in New York State.
A Southwest Airlines passenger filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the airline on Friday, claiming the company did not refund passengers’ money amidst thousands of cancellations following a severe winter storm that swept through the U.S.
If you were hoping to spend your lunch break watching your favorite streamer play, you might be forced to change your plans. Twitch is currently experiencing an issue that is preventing parts of the platform, including channels and streams, from loading properly. According to Downdetector, the outage began around 1PM ET. Since then, the website has logged more than 21,000 complaints that the streaming platform isn’t working properly.
At 1:24PM ET, Twitch acknowledged the outage. “We are investigating an issue preventing multiple areas of Twitch from loading,” the platform’s official support account said on Twitter. Less than an hour later, Twitch said it was working to deploy a fix.
🔧 We are actively working on a fix for the issues impacting multiple areas of Twitch. Thank you for your patience.
— Twitch Support (@TwitchSupport) January 3, 2023
It’s unclear what started causing the issues, but one member of the Engadget team noticed they could continue watching a stream as long as they didn’t refresh their browser window. Some Twitch streamers took to Discord so members of their chat could still talk with one another. We’ll update this article once Twitch provides more information.
At CES 2023, Acer introduced new Predator Helios gaming laptops, and the 18-inch model caught our attention. As computer technology and manufacturing improves, it becomes possible to build reasonably mobile laptops with this enormous display size, and we love it!
Not surprisingly, these new laptops come with the latest internal components, such as Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs (and up to 32GB RAM) and NVIDIA’s new GeForce RTX 40 series for mobile, also freshly announced.
Supposedly, the cooling equipment matches all this computing power, but we’ll see that in a future review if we get to it. Acer does a lot of custom work on its cooling components, and there’s potentially a lot to say, depending on the 2023 changes. So far, it looks like the heatsink is using new tech with higher heat transfer because of an increased surface of contact.
The new Helios 18 and Helios 16 support up to 2TB (PCIe Gen4) of internal SSD storage, which can be configured as a RAID0 array for maximum throughput.
Despite its 18-inch 16:10 display size, the resolution is “only” 2560×1600 (250Hz mini LED or 165Hz or 240Hz) or 1920×1200 (165Hz), depending on the option you choose. For gaming purposes, these are great options, but Creative users might need a bit more.
Because the internal volume allows it, the computer has a per-Key mini LED backlight system with a 1.8mm key travel: that’s quite deep. I wonder if there’s a mechanical tactile feel option.
Starting at $1700, the Acer Predator Helios is relatively affordable for its size and performance. The 16-inch version comes with comparable specs and a different chassis, of course. If I had to pick a new gaming laptop, I’d go for the larger display.
Acer Predator Helios 18 and 16 New Gaming Laptops
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
CES is typically where many fantastic gaming monitors are revealed for the year’s first half, while IFA Berlin is the equivalent for the second half. This time, Acer introduces the Acer X45, a new OLED curved 21:9 gaming monitor.
Since it uses the same 800R curve as the LG UltraGear 45-inch OLED monitor, we wonder if Acer isn’t using the same panel. Perhaps that will be revealed in time, but the specs and experience appear close.
You can find the same 3440 x 1440 resolution, 240Hz refresh, 98.5% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut, and curvature, as mentioned above. Essentially, the panel performance seems identical (and therefore excellent), and you may find slight differences in connectivity and design.
The response speed of 0.01ms will please the pickiest monitor-specs critic, and the compatibility with AMD FreeSync Premium prevents visual tearing if you have an AMD GPU… It’s time for VESA’s AdaptiveSync open standard to take over.
Interestingly, the monitor has a built-in KVM switch that allows you to quickly switch between two computers without disconnecting the display, keyboard, and mouse. That’s quite handy and better than your typical “USB Switch.”
Also, KVMs are relatively pricey, so having this built into the display might represent savings if you intend to purchase a KVM anyway.
Acer does not mention if there’s a VESA plate compatibility to use a monitor arm instead of the default stand, so watch out for this if that’s your plan. Also, we haven’t seen the final specifications for the monitor’s weight without the stand.
Currently, I’m not sold on the large curved monitor for daily use, but they sure look beautiful. Using one when adequately positioned and seated is pretty impressive, but if you have to often show things (to colleagues) on your screen, it may not be all that great.
Anyhow, if you’re tempted by one, I understand because I go through the same thought process every time these new monitors come out. CES can be a place that your bank account might hate later.
Acer X45 45-Inch OLED Gaming Monitor
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
The “Good Morning America” co-anchor confirmed Monday that she and her girlfriend of 18 years will be “saying yes to marriage” in 2023.
Wireless Bluetooth speakers have been around for so long that it’s hard to get excited over new models that only offer incremental improvements to battery life and sound quality year after year. That’s why Acer’s new Halo Swing caught our eye. Yes, it’s yet another waterproof wireless speaker, but it’s also a smart…
Molly Taft covers energy and the environment for Earther. Follow her on Twitter here and please email any scoops to mtaft@gizmodo.com.
Viruses are apparently no exception to the dog-eat-dog world that is nature. In a recent study, scientists have found evidence that some microscopic organisms actively feed on viruses. Though this may be the first “virovore” ever documented, many others likely exist, the team says.
So, 2022’s been over for a few days already—but is a year really over until you’ve reviewed the best TV, movies, Michelles Yeoh, and more from it? We’d like to think not, but just in case you missed our last month of 2022 wrap-up pieces, here they all are in one convenient place for you to peruse.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
