Tag:

dont

Is Nine Sols currently hiding an entirely new game within itself? Yes, but I don’t know why yet

by admin October 4, 2025

Remember last month when Nine Sols developer Red Candle Games started teasing… something… related to the Metroidvania? That something leaned much more into the studio’s horror origins, and as it turns out has developed into a whole entire ARG. I won’t dive into every last detail of said ARG, you can go down that rabbit hole yourself. However it has led to something interesting: Red Candle Games have hidden an entirely new game within Nine Sols.

To unlock this game within a game isn’t particularly complicated. After making sure you have the game installed, head to the Betas tab in the game’s properties. Here, just type in “shanhaiarchive” and a download will start letting you play what is essentially a completely different, relatively short, first-person horror game. According to the devs themselves, this strange little game tasks you to save someone called Yuuki – the beta branch itself is titled “yuukimindscape.” It’s also worth noting that this appears to be a limited-time event, so if you might want to carve out some time for it.

Also worth noting is that this game-within-a-game may spoil some story elements of Nine Sols, so if this has you so curious that you want to play it even if you haven’t played the original, keep that in mind if you’re particularly spoiler averse. I’ll avoid going into any of that here so that you can experience it all as fresh as possible.

It’s still not particularly clear if this is leading to something else, like a sequel or a spin-off of some kind, but I’m deeply into it. Nine Sols felt like quite the change in tone for Red Candles Games, their first two works Detention and Devotion both sitting in the horror genre, so I’m finding this quite a clever use of their own skills.

In any case, Nine Sols is half off on Steam from now until October 6th as part of the autumn sales, so it’s a good time to get on board the mystery train.

Source link

October 4, 2025 0 comments

GameFi Guides

You don’t have to be a coder to understand crypto security

by admin October 4, 2025

Disclosure: The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to the author and do not represent the views and opinions of crypto.news’ editorial.

In my interactions with people at conferences or just regular catchups, they often ask me, “Do I need to know how to code to keep my crypto safe?” To be honest, my answer is always a firm ‘no.’ Over the years, I have spent working in cryptography and wallet security, and one thing I’ve learned is that staying safe isn’t about writing code. It’s about being careful, aware, and knowing what matters.

Summary

Crypto security isn’t just about wallets: It’s about the rules governing how keys are stored, accessed, and used — the lock matters as much as the vault.
Multisig and MPC made simple: Think of them as group locks or shared approvals, reducing single points of failure and making funds harder to compromise.
Security goes beyond code: Policies, people, and processes — like recovery plans and oversight — are just as important as cryptography.
Education is key: Users don’t need to be coders; by asking the right questions and understanding basic concepts, anyone can take ownership of their crypto safety.

In fact, as digital assets enter the mainstream, whether through stablecoins, tokenized assets, or everyday wallets, understanding the basics of security is no longer optional. Just like you don’t need to be a mechanic to drive safely, you don’t need to be a coder to understand what keeps your crypto safe.

Myth #1: Security = where you store your crypto

Most new users think the security of their crypto begins and ends with “which wallet” or “which exchange” they use. But the real story is deeper.

A wallet isn’t just an app on your phone. It’s the system of rules and protections that determine how your private keys are stored, who can access them, and how transactions are approved. In simple terms, the vault is only as good as the lock, and the lock is only as good as the rules that decide who holds the keys.

Understanding this doesn’t require coding skills. It requires asking better questions:

– Does this wallet allow multiple approvals (like multiple signatures)?

– What happens if I lose access to my device?

– Can a single person move funds, or is there shared control?

– If you can ask these questions, you’re already thinking like a security architect.

Myth #2: Multisig and MPC are too technical to understand

Two of the most common terms you’ll hear in wallet security are multisig and multi-party computation. They sound intimidating, but the ideas are straightforward.

Think of the concept of multisig like a bank vault that needs three keys to open. Think of multisig like a bank vault that needs three keys to open. Different people hold different keys, and you need all or most of them together to unlock the vault.

Now, MPC is a little different. With MPC, the keys themselves are never assembled. Instead, each person contributes their part to the “action,” and the action (like approving a transaction) is completed without ever reconstructing the key. It’s like buying a group gift where nobody knows exactly how much each person paid, but the present still gets delivered.

Both models are designed to reduce single points of failure. And while the implementation is technical, the logic is something anyone can understand.

Myth #3: Security is just about code

Security in crypto isn’t only about algorithms or programming. It’s also about policies, people, and processes.

Consider this: the strongest cryptography in the world won’t help if an insider at a company has unchecked access to customer funds. Similarly, a wallet with brilliant engineering can still fail if there’s no recovery plan when a user loses access.

That’s why the most secure custody systems combine mathematics with human design. They enforce rules about who can approve what, set boundaries for how much can move at once, and provide recovery options if things go wrong.

Staying informed is another key habit. Crypto changes fast. Platforms update, new scams pop up, and new opportunities arrive daily. Following credible sources, listening to experienced voices, and asking questions can help you navigate it all. As Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum’s (ETH) co-founder, once said, “Crypto is not just about trading tokens; it’s part of a broader ethos of protecting freedom and privacy.” You don’t need to code to understand that message.

In other words, crypto security is as much about coordination and trust as it is about code. The world is moving fast. Stablecoins are being adopted by payment giants. Traditional banks are exploring tokenized deposits. Every day, people are using wallets to hold digital value, sometimes without realizing the risks involved.

In this environment, security cannot remain a “black box” reserved for engineers. Users, regulators, and institutions need to understand the principles, even if they never touch the math.

The good news is that the concepts aren’t complicated when explained in plain language. We all understand the idea of locks, safes, approvals, and shared control. Crypto security builds on these same human concepts, with cryptography as the invisible engine underneath.

Ask better questions

When you’re evaluating a wallet or custody provider, don’t just ask “is it secure?” Ask:

– How are keys stored?

– Who has the authority to approve transactions?

– What happens if one party is compromised?

– Is the system designed to fail safely?

These questions don’t require coding skills. They require curiosity and a willingness to demand transparency from the infrastructure you rely on.

The beauty of cryptography is that it takes human concepts like privacy, trust, and shared control and turns them into digital systems. But for those systems to succeed, people need to trust them. And trust comes from understanding.

You don’t have to be a coder to understand crypto security. You just need to know the right questions to ask, and the right analogies to make sense of the answers. The future of digital assets depends on making these invisible systems visible and accessible to everyone.

Sharmila S

Dr. Sharmila S is the Principal Scientist at Liminal Custody, with over 18 years of expertise in cryptography, blockchain security, and multiparty computation. She leads Liminal’s cryptography research, advancing MPC protocols, threshold cryptography, and post-quantum security. Previously, she held roles at Microsoft Research India, IIT Madras, ZebPay, and several blockchain startups. She holds a PhD in cryptographic systems, with research spanning proxy re-encryption, signcryption, and aggregated signatures, and is co-inventor on a U.S. patent for key recovery. At Liminal, Dr. Sharmila architects the MPC-TSS custody infrastructure, ensuring scalability, verifiability, and resilience. A recognized thought leader, she bridges theoretical cryptography with real-world blockchain applications, reinforcing Liminal’s mission to build secure, audit-ready, and regulation-aligned digital asset infrastructure.

Source link

October 4, 2025 0 comments

Gaming Gear

OpenAI’s new video generation tool Sora 2 is here, but don’t worry, Sam Altman says it will avoid the ‘degenerate case of AI video generation that ends up with us all being sucked into an RL-optimized slop feed’

by admin October 1, 2025

Sora 2, the latest model of OpenAI’s text-to-video tech, has now launched alongside a dedicated app. Besides spitting out all of the soulless, AI-generated Studio Ghibli-style animation one could ever want, Sora 2 can now generate live action clips with both sound and a frankly scary level of visual accuracy.

Granted, not all of the clips OpenAI shares in its announcement are flawless, with its AI-generated snippet of a practicing martial artist featuring a warping bo staff and smooshed phalanges. Still, OpenAI is keen to highlight Sora 2’s gains in depicting consistent body mechanics that adhere to the rules of the physical world; the twirling body horror of earlier models generated gymnastics clips may be a thing of the past.

The company also touts Sora 2’s ability to “directly inject elements of the real world” into its AI-generated clips. It elaborates, “For example, by observing a video of one of our teammates, the model can insert them into any Sora-generated environment with an accurate portrayal of appearance and voice. This capability is very general, and works for any human, animal or object.” If you’re so inclined to descend into the realm of deepfakes, the Sora app, powered by Sora 2, is available on the iOS store now.

OpenAI touts the app as not just a video generator but also a social environment.

“You can create, remix each other’s generations, discover new videos in a customizable Sora feed, and bring yourself or your friends in via cameos,” the company writes. “With cameos, you can drop yourself straight into any Sora scene with remarkable fidelity after a short one-time video-and-audio recording in the app to verify your identity and capture your likeness.”

One can see the whimsical appeal of sharing AI-generated clips of yourself riding ostriches and pulling off extremely dangerous stunts, but I also can’t ignore the risk posed by deepfakes. For one thing, US president Donald Trump shared an expletive-laden deepfake video on Truth Social literally the day before Sora 2’s launch (via Ars Technica).

The sombrero superimposed over representative Hakeem Jeffries is hopefully a telltale sign for most viewers that the remarks senator Chuck Schumer is depicted as saying in this clip (which was not created using Sora 2) are wholly fabricated. However, given that a Microsoft study suggests folks struggle to accurately identify AI-generated still images 62% of the time, it’s hard not to be concerned about deepfakes’ capacity for disinformation.

Videos generated with Sora 2 don’t even feature a tiny AI watermark, like those introduced in Gemini’s ‘Nano Banana’ image-editing update. OpenAI say they are ‘launching responsibly,’ with in-app features designed to “maximize creation, not consumption,” and address “concerns about doomscrolling, addiction, isolation, and RL-sloptimized feeds.” But comments made by company CEO Sam Altman on his own blog read contrapuntal even to this stated feed philosophy.

“It is easy to imagine the degenerate case of AI video generation that ends up with us all being sucked into an RL-optimized slop feed,” Altman first admits.

As such, he shares that the app has various “mitigations to prevent someone from misusing someone’s likeness in deepfakes, safeguards for disturbing or illegal content, periodic checks on how Sora is impacting users’ mood and wellbeing, and more.”

Altman even goes as far as to say that, if OpenAI cannot sufficiently address aspects of the app that lead to negative social outcomes, then the company would discontinue the service.

But Altman also caps off a longer passage regarding how the Sora feed aims to show content that users are interested in by writing, “And if you truly just want to doom scroll and be angry, then ok, we’ll help you with that.” To me, this reads not only as a shrugging off of responsibility, but also fairly nihilistic; for all OpenAI’s talk about the Sora app’s safety features, what can be done if its users still choose to gaze into the abyss?

(Image credit: OpenAI)

I’d be remiss if I didn’t also reference the existentialism and labour concerns the launch of the Sora 2 model will no doubt inspire in my freelance creative friends. Altman writes on his blog, “Creativity could be about to go through a Cambrian explosion, and along with it, the quality of art and entertainment can drastically increase.” And I would like to suggest that he may be right, just not how he thinks.

While Altman wants OpenAI’s app to be at the forefront of a tidal wave of creativity, my personal hope is that audiences get sick of realistic, computer generated imagery as a result of Sora 2’s proliferation. My blue sky thinking—however naive it may be—is the hope that, in response to audiences seeking out visual art that could only ever be made by humans, practical effects and puppets make a comeback in a big way.

Best PC build 2025

All our favorite gear

Source link

October 1, 2025 0 comments

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, who recently took on banks over stablecoin rewards.

NFT Gaming

don’t bail out banks by banning crypto rewards

by admin September 29, 2025

Coinbase CEO pushed back against the banks, claiming they are trying to block stablecoin rewards to protect their monopoly.

Summary

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is lobbying for the Market Structure Act
He claims that banks want to ban stablecoin rewards to protect their monopoly
The U.S. Senate is currently deliberating on the Market Structure Act

Coinbase escalated its fight with TradFi, doubling down on its lobbying efforts and accusing banks of trying to protect their monopoly. On Monday, September 29, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on X while in Washington, D.C., lobbying lawmakers on stablecoin regulation.

I’ve never been more bullish about clear rules for crypto. It’s obvious that market structure is a freight train that’s left the station.

But that hasn’t stopped the big banks from coming for another handout – this time paid by your crypto rewards. They want to undo your right… pic.twitter.com/hmPYmagDhj

— Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) September 29, 2025

Armstrong spoke from Capitol Hill while the U.S. Senate deliberated on the Digital Asset Market Structure and Investor Protection Act. This piece of legislation, clarifying crypto rules beyond those covered by the GENIUS Act, will determine which agency is in charge of crypto regulation and extend investor protections.

“I’ve never been more bullish about clear rules for crypto. It’s obvious that market structure is a freight train that’s left the station,” said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. “But that hasn’t stopped the big banks from coming for another handout – this time paid by your crypto rewards,” he added.

Banks want to ban stablecoin rewards: Armstrong

According to Armstrong, banks are trying to relitigate issues that were already settled with the GENIUS Act. Notably, he says the banking lobby is coming after stablecoin rewards.

“Banks want to ban rewards to maintain their monopoly, and we’re making sure the Senate knows bailing out the big banks at the expense of the American consumer is not ok,” Armstrong stated.

Stablecoin rewards are a contentious regulatory issue. Under the GENIUS Act, stablecoins are not allowed to pay interest. However, they are allowed to pay rewards, which some in the banking sector consider a loophole.

Notably, banks fear that stablecoin rewards could cause a capital flight from the banks. What is more, according to the April Treasury Department report, consumers might move as much as $6.6 trillion out of banks into stablecoins, potentially threatening the banks’ ability to lend.

Source link

September 29, 2025 0 comments

A screencap of Hollow Knight: Silksong's opening cutscene. A close-up shot of protagonist Hornet moments before she breaks out of a metal cage. Her curved white mask and red cloak are lit up as a glowing strand of silk surrounds her.

Product Reviews

It’s possible to get Silksong’s double jump in Act 1 well before you’re supposed to, you just have to be enough of a platforming god to prove you don’t need it

by admin September 28, 2025

Cofy on YouTube has published a video guide for sequence breaking Hollow Knight: Silksong to unlock its double jump, the Faydown Cloak, before you’re supposed to and without the intended prerequisite items. The only catch is that it looks incredibly challenging to pull off, demanding both patience and twitch reflexes.

Both Hollow Knights are deliciously old school in how they make you work for your double jump, withholding it until deep into the game. In Silksong, the Faydown Cloak is located at the top of Mount Fay, past a challenging, platforming-centric level that requires the Clawline, an Act 2 ability. At least, it’s supposed to require the Clawline. For the skip, Cofy needed:

The Needolin
Swift Step
Reaper Crest
Drifter’s Cloak
Sharpdart

This is already nuts because the Sharpdart itself is designed to require the Faydown Cloak to grab⁠—it’s a Catch 22. But Cofy also has a guide showing the requisite jumping tech to get the Sharpdart before the Faydown Cloak. Sharpdart is a dash attack that Cofy is able to use as a poor man’s Clawline during the climb.

Mount Fay’s only entrance is in the Slab, so you have to get captured by a Wardenfly and finish the prison escape sequence first. After that, it’s mostly just ultra instinct platforming. Cofy seems to use the Reaper Crest’s wider hurtbox to pogo off enemies while practically level with them, instead of above. They also show that it’s possible to jump up the seemingly unclimbable slippery slopes on the mountain.

Cofy’s gnarliest trick, though, is purposefully dying in strategic locations to leave behind a cocoon they can run back and pogo off for extra height, completing otherwise impossible jumps. That just feels particularly hardcore.

After all that, you can, indeed, technically get the Faydown Cloak in Act 1 and without the Clawline. But this isn’t exactly a handy trick for average players to become overpowered early. In fact, many of the YouTube comments on Cofy’s video suggest this means Michael Saves’ Silksong Randomizer mod can be made even more challenging than it already is: Its item spawn pools no longer have to ensure that the Clawline is obtainable outside Mount Fay to avoid softlocking players.

Source link

September 28, 2025 0 comments

The Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro in a sunny outdoor setting.

Product Reviews

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: a few neat features don’t save these problem-plagued open earbuds

by admin September 28, 2025

Why you can trust TechRadar

We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro: Two-minute review

“I can hear your music,” is something my mother used to tell me when I was young, worried that I’d damage my hearing by cranking my music too loud, and it’s something I’ve heard from multiple people since I started testing even the best open earbuds.

These safety-focused open-fit headphones don’t put the earbud in your ear but just outside it, letting you hear surrounding sounds – but until the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro came along, this also meant that people around you could hear the distant ring of your tunes too.

No more! Xiaomi’s sophomore open-ear offering fixes the problem, with a bespoke 10mm driver that’s designed to eradicate sound leakage, and does a decent job at stopping bystanders hearing your music. My local park was no longer regaled by early-morning Busted and Hansen sprints, which I’m sure the community was overjoyed with.

That driver’s just one of five nestled into each earbud, a surprising spec given that most earbuds have one and even top-end ones have only two or three, and you can see them arranged in a flower-like pattern on each bud. But my first-glance comparison between this layout and the look of the five-camera Nokia 9 PureView, which was the first smartphone to use this many rear sensors, continues further than I’d like. Just as that phone offered a packed spec-sheet that didn’t deliver as promising results in testing, the OpenWear Stereo Pro may have the hardware but can’t seem to make good on it to stand a cut above the rest.

For most of my testing, I listened on the default sound profile and the buds sounded awful, really tinny and compressed – luckily I discovered that changing to one of the other few audio presets clears up lots of my problems, adding depth and range, and I wish I hadn’t written most of this review before discovering that! Oh well, a few hours of rewrites gave me more time to review the buds.

That extra testing time didn’t give me extra insight on the design, which isn’t quite as robust or rigid as open-ears need to be for gym users. Doing exercises that don’t see me stand upright like sit-ups, skull-crushers or anything reclined saw gravity drag the buds away from my ears, though thankfully they were okay when running or cycling.

It’s in the feature set that Xiaomi goes some way in winning me over. I’ve already mentioned the sound leak suppression system but the company has also brought back an easily-toggled voice note recording system, which I’ve found really useful in quickly letting me leave reminders to myself.

Despite winning points back, though, the Stereo Pro level out as being ‘fine’ buds, instead of the solid ones they’d need to be to compete in this rapidly-growing and hotly contested market.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Price and release date

(Image credit: Future)

Available from September 24, 2025
Costs £139.99 (roughly $180, AU$280)
In line with most open-ears

The Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro were announced in September 2025 at a launch event by the company, which also included the Xiaomi 15T smartphone, some new versions of existing wearables and a few other bits and pieces.

The earbuds cost £139.99 (roughly $180, AU$280). A US release is unlikely given precedent, and an Australian one is possible due to Xiaomi releasing some of its earbuds there, but not guaranteed.

That price puts the Stereo Pro in line with most other open-ears, which generally sit between £100 and £160 (or $/AU$ equivalent), though some of our favorite options sit at the lower end of that spectrum. More on that in the Competition section below.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Specs

Swipe to scroll horizontally

Drivers

Tweeter + 2x balanced armatures + 18x13mm dynamic driver + 10mm driver

Active noise cancellation

Battery life (ANC off)

8.5 hours (buds) 45 hours (case)

Weight

9.7g (buds) 72g (case)

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Waterproofing

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Features

(Image credit: Future)

Two useful features
Presets, but no equalizer
8.5 hours of listening per charge

Xiaomi puts the battery life of the OpenWear Stereo Pro at 8.5 hours for the buds, a figure which my own testing gave me no reason to doubt. The charging case bumps that up to 45 hours and both are slightly above average, the case figure to a commendable degree.

The Xiaomi Earbuds app for your phone or tablet gives you some extra control over your buds, with the ability to customise touch controls and jump between a few sound profiles (like EQ presets, but without there being an actual EQ). I’ll mention these in more detail later but it’s not quite as much as customization as other buds give you.

The flashy feature that’s designed to make the Stereo Pro stand out from the crowd is a driver which is designed to stop sound leaking. By ‘leaking’, I mean music from the buds that people around you can hear, which is both annoying for them and embarrassing for you (especially if your music taste is poor but trust me, we’re all judging you).

From my testing (and my partner’s, due to her being my guinea pig) the feature does a decent job at reducing sound leaking. It doesn’t totally remove it and sound leaking is still apparent, but it downplays open earbuds’ natural tendency to spread music around (due to the design). It’s most efficient in public areas where it brings your music just quiet enough to be drowned out by background noises.

Another feature present, that Xiaomi has ported over from its standard earbuds, is a recording mode. You can enable this with a gesture command, and it records audio from the buds or, apparently, a built-in speaker in the case.

It’s a useful feature for people who like to record their own voice notes on the go (let’s be honest: it’s a lot easier than using your phone’s notes app) but many countries have laws against recording unawares people, so you’ve been warned.

Throughout testing, I bumped up against a problem that seemed to be a connectivity one, rather than a sound one, though it did affect the audio. Now and then the buds would jump between tunings, from the usual one to an extra-compressed one and back again after a few seconds. There was no way of controlling or pre-empting this. I put it down to a connectivity issue because from time to time the buds would also lose connection for a few moments, a problem likely linked.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Design

(Image credit: Future)

Very shiny earbuds
Comfortable to wear but unreliable hold
Hardy carry case

If you’re familiar with the look of open earbuds, the thing that’ll hit you about the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro is just how shiny they are. The counterweight and bud both come with a sheen so clean you can do your hair in them, making them look really rather premium. You can pick up the buds in gray, white or, like my test unit, rose gold.

And if we’re making judgements based on appearance, seeing the five drivers on the other side, complete with the text ‘5-driver sound system, designed by Xiaomi’ makes a loud statement about the buds’ audio quality.

Each bud weighs 9.7g, which is a little more than some rivals I’ve tested, but it doesn’t tell. They’re comfortable to wear for long gym sessions or trips, though when I wore them for my workout the bud would often move away from my ear if I leant down or lay down. I’ve found this problem in a few other open-ears and it seems to happen most when the material connecting the bud and counterweight is weak, and therefore unable to hold the bud rigidly.

The case is an oval clamshell that retains your color choice from the bud – and again, has a little ‘designed by Xiaomi’ in case you forget who made it (the name appears four times across the case and buds, not counting a little removable information sticker on the case).

Strong magnets grip the Stereo Pro when you put them in the case, so I never needed to fuss much about putting them in perfectly, which was handy when I wanted to sheathe the Xiaomi in a hurry. Features of the case include a USB-C charging port and pairing button but not much else.

Pre-release information provided to TechRadar didn’t mention an IP rating for the buds or case, so keep them safe from rain.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Sound quality

Five drivers per bud
Default sound profile is bad
Low max volume

(Image credit: Future)

A glance at the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro’s specs list sets up high expectations for the buds’ audio chops, and that’s because each bud has a startling five drivers (most rivals have one).

There’s a tweeter for refining treble, dual balanced armatures aimed again at higher-frequency tones, an 18x13mm dynamic driver that’s targeted at bass and the aforementioned 10mm sound leak reducer. And if that overwhelming hardware list somehow doesn’t impress you, perhaps the support for Hi-Res Audio and LDAC, SBC and AAC codecs will.

After reading all those specs, seeing the five drivers individually presented on the earbuds in a distinct way, and setting up my expectations fittingly, I was pretty shocked to discover that the Stereo Pro don’t sound good at all. In fact, I wrote a pretty scathing review of the sound – and then connected the buds to the phone app (not available immediately because I had early access to my review sample), changed from the default sound profile and found most of my issues vanish. If you’ve just bought these buds, make this change straight away.

In their default sound profile, the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro sound tinny, compressing a multitude of instruments into one sound and losing the details from almost all of them. In rock songs instruments like rhythm guitar, accompaniment keys and backing vocals are muddled and drum lines and more prominent guitar lines are akin to sleigh bells for how jangling they sound. Reverb fills the space that a detailed soundstage should take up.

Changing from the default sound profile really widens instruments, as well as the soundstage (though if you’re a masochist, the in-app toggle to increase the dynamic range turns the tinniness up to 11). It doesn’t make audio sound great, but it brings it in line with other open-ears.

The drivers’ emphasis on higher-end audio helps vocals and guitar solos stand out, and while there’s sufficient bass it sounds ill-defined and loose unless you fix it in the equalizer. Most of the time, it turns songs into a wall of distorted sound in which you can’t make up the textural details. I can see some listeners being okay with this aspect of the buds, especially ones who like high-powered metal music, but bear in mind that if you try head-banging these buds are going to go flying.

The buds don’t even go very loud, so I sometimes struggled to hear music when I was nearby a road.

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro review: Value

(Image credit: Future)

Your money could go further
…unless you want those features

As mentioned before, the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro sit around the average price of open earbuds, and also as mentioned, there’s lots of competition.

In fact, some of our favorite options are cheaper, making Xiaomi’s offering feel hard to recommend given that its performance also doesn’t match up.

The exception to this is whether or not the buds’ features sound enough to win you over, but for me, the sound quality is a sticking point.

Should I buy the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro?

(Image credit: Future)Swipe to scroll horizontallyXiaomi Openwear Stereo Pro score card

Attributes

Notes

Rating

Features

The decent battery life and useful extras make up for the wobbly connection.

4/5

Design

The buds are flashy and shiny with handy touch controls but the buds aren’t held in place reliably.

3.5/5

Sound quality

The Stereo Pro gives unconvincing sound, even when you’ve turned off the poor default mode.

3/5

Value

There’s bound to be something that works better within your budget… unless the features appeal to you.

3/5

Buy them if…

Don’t buy them if…

Xiaomi Openwear Stereo Pro review: Also consider

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Xiaomi Openwear Stereo Pro

Huawei FreeArc

Honor Earbuds Open

Technics EAH-AZ100

Drivers

Tweeter + 2x balanced armatures + 18x13mm dynamic driver + 10mm driver

17x12mm

16mm

17x12mm

Active noise cancellation

Yes

Battery life

8.5 hours (buds) 45 hours (case)

7 hours (buds) 28 hours (total)

6 hours (buds) 40 hours (total)

7.5 hours (buds) 38.5 hours (case)

Weight

9.7g / charging case: 72g

8.9g / charging case: 67g

7.9g / charging case: 52.5g

9.6g / charging case: 88g

Connectivity

Bluetooth 5.4

Bluetooth 5.2

Bluetooth 5.4

Waterproofing

IP57

IP54

How I tested the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro

(Image credit: Future)

Tested for two weeks
Tested at home, in the office, on runs, at the gym and while cycling

I used the Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro for two weeks before writing this review, which is the standard TechRadar testing time.

During the testing period I used the buds at home, on walks around my neighborhood, on runs, at the gym, while cycling and on busy public transport. I paired them to my Android smartphone and most of the testing was done on Spotify and Netflix.

I’ve been reviewing gadgets for TechRadar for nearly six years, which has included lots of Xiaomi gadgets in the past. For the last year I’ve been reviewing countless open earbuds, and so have a lot of experience in the area with which to compare the Xiaomis.

First reviewed in September 2025

Xiaomi OpenWear Stereo Pro: Price Comparison

Source link

September 28, 2025 0 comments

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 9: A U.S. Department of Commerce sign is displayed at the Herbert C. Hoover Federal Building on June 9, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)

Product Reviews

Trump administration is reportedly planning to tariff US tech firms that don’t source equal numbers of imported and American chips

by admin September 26, 2025

Every tech firm in the US heavily relies on the likes of China and Taiwan for its products, whether it involves the wholesale manufacturing of them or the supply of the vast number of semiconductor chips and components required. However, if a purported idea being considered by the Trump administration comes to fruition, they will all need to massively reduce imports and switch to locally-made chips to avoid being hit with a fresh tariff.

That’s according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, which claims that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has already mooted the idea with various executives within America’s semiconductor industry. If we use Nvidia as an example, it currently relies almost exclusively on companies outside of the US for all the chips and other electronic components that are used to manufacture its graphics cards and AI data servers.

Its GPUs and CPUs are made by TSMC in Taiwan, with circuit boards and the host of parts that are fitted to them produced in China. Nvidia tends to use Micron for VRAM chips more than any other firm, and while that company is US-based, it also has production facilities in Singapore and China.

To comply with a mandate that requires it to maintain a 1:1 ratio of locally-produced semiconductor chips versus those that it imports, Nvidia would need to drastically change its supply chain somehow. Either that, or it would have to rely on the majority of its suppliers having facilities within the US to produce said components.

At the moment, there’s no indication of the nature or size of the tariff that would be applied if companies failed to reach the ratio target, but even if the threat of it is big enough to make all US tech companies immediately comply, one question remains unanswered. And it’s because there is no answer for it.

TSMC’s chip foundry in Arizona. America’s going to need a lot more of these. (Image credit: TSMC)

How is America’s semiconductor industry supposed to match the combined output, breadth of products, and level of technological accomplishment of Taiwan, South Korea, China, Japan, and Singapore? Despite having the likes of Intel, GlobalFoundries, and Micron, as well as fabrication plants from Samsung and TSMC, the supply chain for the global tech market is predominantly based outside of the US.

If one assumes that it can be scaled up to the level required to meet the 1:1 demand, it certainly can’t happen overnight, and the cost for adjusting the supply chain to this extent is likely to be enormous. So much so that it’s possible that any tariff would pale in comparison.

WSJ’s report also claims that the plan would allow companies to make manufacturing pledges, to give themselves sufficient time to build the required infrastructure in America, without incurring the tariff. There may also be a relief period if and when the plan is introduced, to allow for US-based production to be ramped up.

While it can be argued that having a more equally distributed semiconductor supply chain is beneficial for stability and security reasons, the economic impact of forcing it to significantly adjust so rapidly could be too much for the industry to bear; at the very least, tech companies that are currently struggling with uncertain revenues or low profit margins would not welcome the plan.

For the US tech industry, this could ultimately be good news or catastrophic news, but until any official statement is made by the Trump administration, we’re just left with speculation. Any move to significantly reduce chip imports might seem like a great idea, but with the devil being in the details, and details being thin on the ground right now, tech firms are probably feeling a tad jittery about all of this.

Best PC build 2025

All our favorite gear

Source link

September 26, 2025 0 comments

A screencap of the World of Warcraft: Midnight Gamescom 2025 Opening Night Live cinematic trailer. A dark-haired elf looks toward the viewer, her face covered in a violet hue.

Product Reviews

World of Warcraft: Midnight’s collector’s edition lets you own the Dark Heart, but please don’t use this void relic to resurrect an all-devouring shadow god

by admin September 24, 2025

World of Warcraft: Midnight is on the horizon, and you know what that means: the time to throw money at an ostentatious collector’s edition is almost upon us.

Conveniently, Blizzard has just revealed what Midnight’s fanciest edition contains, and while I’m not vibing with it as much as I did with The War Within’s, there’s some cool stuff in here.

Here’s what you’ll get:

Game access

3 days of Midnight early access
30 days of WoW game time

Physical items

Midnight hardcover art book
Midnight collector’s pin
Replica of the Dark Heart

Digital items

Housing items
Hopeflutter and Doomfeathers pets
Lightstrider Raiment and Voidstrider Raiment armour transmog sets
Voidlight Surger mount
Lightwing Dragonhawk and Voidwing Dragonhawk mounts

(Image credit: Blizzard)

It looks like there will be other bits and bobs, too, including 2000 Trader’s Tender, which you can splash out with on the trading post, and a boost to level 80. The digital items will also be available in the cheaper epic edition, so the draw of the collector’s edition is all the physical items.

WoW’s art books are always great, and I still have a few of them sitting on my shelf, but for this expansion the highlight is probably the Dark Heart replica. I wouldn’t mind owning one myself, but I don’t think it holds a candle to the mighty Gryphon Rider statue from The War Within’s 20th anniversary collector’s edition.

You’ll be able to preorder the collector’s edition from October 1 via the Blizzard Gear Store in the US, where it’ll set you back a not-insignificant $140. In Europe, meanwhile, you’ll be able to get it via regional retailers.

Source link

September 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Fortnite Reveals Daft Punk Event, But Don’t Expect A Reunion

by admin September 23, 2025

Daft Punk, one of the biggest electronic dance music groups in history, is coming soon to Fortnite alongside some classic tracks, Lego skins, new emotes, and also a big confirmation from Epic that, no, they aren’t getting back together. Sorry.

On September 22, after some online leaks and teases, Epic officially announced that Daft Punk was coming to Fortnite as part of a large in-game event. The robotic duo will arrive in Epic’s ever-growing battle royale on September 27 as part of something called the “Daft Punk Experience.” This will be an in-game location that players can visit alone or with friends, and it will feature various activities, including the ability to remix Daft Punk’s music, a horde mode featuring robots, and a dance club.

But before all that, on September 25, cosmetic items based on the duo will be added to Fortnite’s in-game shop. Cosmetics include multiple Daft Punk outfits, emotes, weapon skins, in-game music tracks, and even some adorable Lego minifigs based on the famous robots.

Now, if you’re a big fan of Daft Punk like me, you might see all this news and start thinking that maybe, just maybe, the duo is about to get back together. Perhaps this is just a tease of something bigger. A new album? A new song? A new tour? Well, bad news: Epic makes it very clear in the post announcing all of the new Fortnite x Daft Punk content that, no, the group is not getting back together. First, Epic starts the post off with a mention of the group being “no longer” around and then, to make it very clear, Epic included this in the event’s FAQ:

Is Daft Punk getting back together?
No. The Daft Punk Experience is an immersive music experience based on the band’s beloved music. The band is not getting back together.

So there you go. Sorry about that. Of course, if they wanted it to be a surprise, that’s exactly what they would say. So perhaps there is still a chance… (Editor’s note: It’s not happening, Zack. Move on.)

Source link

September 23, 2025 0 comments

Esports

How big is Baby Steps? Creators joke they don’t want you to see it all

by admin September 23, 2025

Just how big is Baby Steps? Well, we spoke to the creators to find out, and they warned against any one person trying to see and do it all. Nate’s poor legs can’t hack a 100-hour grind.

Baby Steps is now out in the wild, and thousands are exploring its vast open-world void of objective markers. While there is a golden path of sorts to follow, it’s all about getting lost off the main track and seeing what secrets are out there. If you can stay on your two feet, that is.

Article continues after ad

But after veering off course for 20 hours or so, you might be wondering just how big the game really is. How much content is there crammed into this one open world? How many challenges have you still not found? And most importantly, how many hats are there to find?

While we don’t quite have all the answers, we caught up with the game’s creators to glean some insight and learn about the sheer scope of the experience.

Article continues after ad

How big is Baby Steps?

There’s no clear answer, and there may never be. Baby Steps is a unique case, in that depending on your skill, and a little bit of luck, your time spent might be vastly different from someone else.

For one player, it might take 20 hours to cruise through the main path. For another, it might take 50 if they struggle. Factoring in detours and optional content only makes the equation even more complicated.

For developer Gabe Cuzzillo, he joked that the game is simply “too big” when we interviewed him. In fact, he advised against trying to conquer each and every little challenge. “You shouldn’t do that,” he said with a laugh.

Article continues after ad

In terms of a raw hour count, Cuzzillo suggested it could take “maybe 100 hours” depending again on your level of skill.

The real differentiating factor is just how you struggle with the game’s more difficult tasks. Some obstacles aren’t too much of a challenge, but others could have you stumped for hours on end, losing progress each time you fall. So, not only do you have to put the time in, but you really have to master the game’s awkward movement too.

Article continues after ad

“Yeah, if you were really to see everything, you’d be doing some very hard stuff,” Bennett Foddy stressed.

“But we’re trying to let people have enough options to dial in the intensity for themselves. You can have a pretty chill one or exploring every inch. It would be pretty spicy to see everything.”

Source link

September 23, 2025 0 comments