Tag:

Essential

The 5 Best Essential Oil Diffusers (and One to Avoid)

by admin June 24, 2025

I first learned about Pura from a friend whose house always smelled like a high-end boutique under every circumstance. Cooking project, water leak … no matter what was going on in her house at the time, I only ever smelled berries. I have two cats and a multi-sports-playing tween—I knew I needed this. Now, about 17 months into my Pura journey, I have some thoughts.

While most of my time has been with the now discontinued Pura 3, I have also since used the Pura 4 and new large-room Pura Plus, all of which have dual bays for two of Pura’s proprietary oil cartridges. The Pura 3 and 4 both plug into an outlet and can only be controlled through the accompanying app (or Alexa or Google Home). This is convenient for setting schedules and timers, switching fragrances, and changing the color of the optional night-light, but there have also been numerous occasions where I’ve wanted to stop or start or change a schedule but have been unable to because I forgot my password or the diffuser couldn’t connect to Wi-Fi. In the moment, it was infuriating. Mercifully, the stand-alone, cylindrical Pura Plus has manual control buttons on the front. The smaller Pura 4 really is best for enclosed spaces, like a long entryway or a bedroom (note that both only work with 2.4-Ghz Wi-Fi). If you have high ceilings or any kind of open floor plan, you’ll get better results from the Pura Plus. Just note that, unlike the silent Pura 4, the Plus emits an audible whooshing sound that’s actually quite loud—32 decibels, as loud as a fan on low.

Another disappointing feature is the extremely varied quality among cartridge brands. I’ve experienced undetectable scents, chip stickers that arrive detached or register the wrong fragrance (the diffusers automatically scan the chips to show the fragrances in the app), and vial tops so stuck on they required pliers. Given that the cartridges run $11 to $17 for 0.33 ounces, I’m of the opinion this shouldn’t be happening. That said, Pura is known for its clean, upscale oils that are safe for pets and families, and on this it delivers. There’s an extensive selection of seasonal and year-round cartridges from companies like Nest, Anthropologie, and Capri Blue, and I’ve loved all but maybe one of the dozen or so I’ve tried. Because of the small size and price of the cartridges, Pura might not be the best choice if you want to smell diffuser all day, every day, as you’ll end up spending a small fortune. However, if you love unique luxury scents and only need them occasionally and/or on demand, Pura is the way to go. —Kat Merck

TypeNebulizerAdditional FeaturesSmart features (requires 2.4-GHz Wi-Fi), night-lightOil TypeProprietaryRemote?No

Source link

June 24, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

Breath Of The Wild: Essential Tips For Newcommers

by admin June 23, 2025

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is easily one of gaming’s most beloved entries in an equally beloved franchise, so it makes sense that Nintendo would want to revamp it for the release of the Nintendo Switch 2. With better visuals, performance, and more, this upgraded version can make this adventure feel fresh even to returning players. But if this is your very first time journeying into this 2017 title or if it’s been a number of years since you last visited Hyrule in this game, there a few essential tips worth remembering during the first few hours of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Tears Of The Kingdom’s Newspaper Questline And The State Of Hyrulean Journalism

Save your best weapons and don’t be afraid to run

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s weapon durability system is divisive among fans, as it adds an extra layer of strategy and danger to both exploration and combat. Luckily, there are enough weapons to be found that you’ll generally have something to use in a fight against foes you encounter. But that doesn’t mean you always should.

While basic weapons are fairly plentiful, stronger weapons are a bit tougher to come by. You won’t have a lot of inventory space in the early part of the game, either, so prioritize using weaker weapons when possible while saving the few powerful options for challenging encounters.

Until you’ve expanded your inventory and have easier access to strong weapons, it’s also not a bad idea to run away from any unnecessary enemy encounters. Not every fight is worth the hassle in a game built around survival and resourcefulness, so there’s no harm in accepting that you’d rather save your hard-earned weapons for more important situations.

Pick up anything and everything

While you have limited slots available for weapons in Breath of the Wild, your main inventory is bottomless. Because of this, you should pick up everything you see in the world while exploring.

You’ll be doing a lot of cooking and upgrading throughout this Hyrulian adventure, so you’ll be happy to find that you’ve got a nice collection of stuff to use as you get further into the game. And anything that isn’t usable can be sold for some extra rupees,;it’s a win-win, yeah?

Food? Grab it. Materials? That, too. A piece of poop? Well, maybe leave that.

Oh, come on. Go wash your hands. I can’t take you anywhere.

Level stamina first

Whether you want to earn more hearts or have a larger stamina meter first is entirely a personal choice based on your goals and playstyle, but it’s worth noting that stamina tends to be the more useful resource in the first half of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Enemies can deal so much damage in this game that an extra heart or two isn’t going to do much for you; meanwhile, stamina can assist you greatly with exploration and climbing—and running away.

Once you’ve advanced further in the game and have discovered how to respec your hearts and stamina, you can always even things out more. And you’ll definitely want to do so, as you’ll need a minimum of 13 hearts if you aspire to eventually get the coveted Master Sword.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is available now on Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2.

Source link

June 23, 2025 0 comments

A hand holds an iPhone in front of a warm fireplace.

Gaming Gear

I Changed Just 10 Essential iOS 18.5 Settings and Transformed How I Use My iPhone

by admin June 21, 2025

Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference has given us a glimpse into how iOS 26 will change how we use our iPhones — but what about the here and now? In iOS 18.5, there are several settings that can streamline the way you interact with your iPhone. Some are obvious, others definitely fly under the radar. But all of them can make a big difference. From saving battery life to boosting performance, these changes helped me fine-tune my phone and avoid unnecessary headaches. Here are the 10 iPhone settings I recommend changing in iOS 18.5.

Watch this: 11 Hidden Features in iOS 18

06:44

For more on what’s new in iOS 18, learn about improvements to the overhauled Calculator app and the Mail app. And don’t forget to consult our iOS 18 upgrade checklist, which includes making sure you have a proper backup before upgrading.

Turn off categories in the Mail app

When it comes to something like email, everyone has their own way of dealing with the influx of messages. Traditionally, the Mail app has kept a chronological list, but that can get unwieldy if you also get scores of promotions, receipts and other types of email. The new categories feature creates virtual buckets for Primary, Transactions, Updates and Promotions, and guesses how your messages should be sorted.

If that approach doesn’t work for you, here are two things to try.

• In the event that categories are somewhat useful, but you still want a chronological view of your Inbox, swipe all the way to the right of the categories and tap All Mail.

• To turn off categories altogether, tap the three-dot menu (…) in the top-right corner, and then tap List View.

Turn off Mail Categories from within the Inbox. (iOS 18.5 beta shown here.)

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Change the default buttons on the lock screen

In real estate, location is everything, and the bottom corners of the iPhone lock screen are the prime spots, each an easy thumb press away when your device is still locked. Before iOS 18, those posts were held by the flashlight and camera buttons, with no way to change them.

In iOS 18, you can finally replace them with other buttons — or remove them entirely, a balm for folks who unknowingly activate the flashlight (believe me, there’s a better way to turn it on). You can add buttons to recognize music via Shazam, enable Dark Mode, set an alarm/timer, enable Airplane Mode, open your Wallet, send money via Tap to Cash and more.

Here’s how:

1. On the iPhone’s lock screen, touch and hold anywhere on the display until you see the Customize button. You’ll need to unlock the phone using Face ID, Touch ID or your passcode. If it opens the home screen, swipe down from the center-top of the screen (not the right edge, which brings up Control Center.

2. Tap Customize and then choose Lock Screen.

3. Remove one of the buttons by tapping the – (minus) button on the icon.

4. To replace the button with another function, tap its space (now with a + icon) and then choose the one you want on the next screen. (You can also opt to leave that space empty with no button.)

5. Repeat those steps for the other button if you want to change it.

6. Tap Done when you’re finished.

7. Tap the lock screen again to exit the customize mode.

Remove a lock screen button by tapping the – (minus) button, and then choose a new control to replace it.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Get important alerts using Prioritize Notifications

For iPhone models that can run Apple Intelligence, a new option in iOS 18.4 is fast becoming one of my favorite AI features. Go to Settings > Notifications, and under Apple Intelligence, tap Prioritize Notifications. As new alerts come in — and some days feel like they arrive in floods — Apple Intelligence determines which ones are more likely to be important to you. For example, texts from people in your contacts could be flagged in favor of random scam messages. On that settings screen, you can enable or disable priority notifications for individual apps.

In iOS 18.4, Apple Intelligence can prioritize notifications to grab your attention.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Set up some of the new tasks available on the Action button

The Action button on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16E and iPhone 16 Pro replaced the dedicated mute switch found on every earlier iPhone model with a configurable control. By default, it serves the same purpose — hold it to turn Silent Mode on or off — but you can configure it for other actions like opening the Camera app, performing multiple actions at once or even ordering coffee. The iOS 18.4 update adds Visual Intelligence as an option for the Action button. That makes the AI technology available on the iPhone 16E, which does not include the novel new Camera Control but is now an option for any iPhone with an Action button.

In iOS 18, the Action button gets new capabilities. You can bypass Control Center and choose a control of your choice, such as opening the Remote interface for navigating Apple TV or using Shazam to identify a song.

To choose a different action for the Action button, go to Settings > Action Button. Swipe sideways to select and activate one of the available actions. For the Controls, Shortcut and Accessibility options, tap the Choose button to pick which specific action to run.

iOS 18 now lets you program the Action Button with your favorite Control Center control.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Give your home screen a radical new look

You wouldn’t think that putting icons where you want is a radical new feature, but that’s because iOS has always had a locked arrangement. Apps get added from top to bottom, left to right. You could rearrange the order in which icons appear and move them to other screens, but that was about it.

In iOS 18, apps can be positioned nearly anywhere. You no longer need to deal with a wallpaper image of your kids or pets being obscured by icons. They still adhere to a grid — Apple isn’t about to sanction anarchy — but can be placed freely.

Also, Dark mode finally applies to all of the iPhone’s home screen, with options for coloring icons and affecting the brightness of the wallpaper image. Here’s how to customize the looks.

Arrange apps: Touch and hold the home screen to enter “jiggle mode,” and then drag the icons to new positions. It will still slide them around to fill spaces, but with patience, you can move them into the spots you want.

Position app icons where you want so this very good girl isn’t covered.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

You can also quickly turn compatible apps into widgets that display more information. Maps, for instance, can be a map of your current location with shortcut buttons to search for places or bring up a list of nearby places (such as dinner spots). Touch and hold the app icon and look for a row of resize buttons in the menu that appears. Once expanded beyond the standard icon size, you can drag the handle in the bottom-right corner of the new icon. To get it back to its single icon size you need to touch and hold again and choose the single-icon button

Some apps can be expanded into larger icons that act like widgets.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Set Dark mode: If you’ve ever subjected yourself to the retina blast of black text on a white background late at night in a darkened room, you will appreciate the new Dark mode option for the home and lock screens. iOS has previously included a Dark mode, where light backgrounds switch to black or dark gray, text switches to white or light gray and other interface elements are dimmed to coexist in a dark environment. That’s never been applied to the home and lock screens in any significant way — only the dock and some widgets — until iOS 18.

First, touch and hold the home screen to enter jiggle mode. Tap the Edit button in the top-left corner and choose Customize from the menu. At the bottom of the screen, choose a mode for the icons and background: Automatic, Dark or Light (I’ll get to Tinted in a moment). In Dark mode, the icons gain black backgrounds, and folders and the Dock become dark gray. (Developers have the option of making Dark mode icons for their apps. In the meantime, apps not yet optimized get a generally darker appearance.)

In the home screen’s Dark mode, icons and the background are given a darker treatment.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

In Dark mode, the background image also changes. Apple’s default iOS 18 wallpaper dynamically changes from light to dark as the day progresses, or you can choose colors that offer a light and dark option. If you use a photo, its overall exposure is reduced to dim the light output.

If you want dark icons but aren’t a fan of the dimmed photo treatment, tap the sun icon in the corner of the options sheet at the bottom of the screen to toggle back to Light mode just for the background.

Tinted icons: A new and different option is to tint all of the app icons so they share the same color. In the Customize options at the bottom of the screen, choose Tinted as the icon style. You can then adjust the Hue (the slider with the color spectrum) and Luminosity (the slider with the dark to light range) to choose the color tint you prefer.

Apply a universal tint to all app icons, with controls for adjusting the hue and luminosity.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

What if you want to match a color from a background image? Tap the eyedropper button and then drag the reticle to pinpoint the color you want — the border indicates the selected color.

The tint is applied not only to icons but to widgets as well. For a widget such as Photos, the images it displays show up as duotones to match the theme.

Large icons: Do the labels below each app icon seem redundant to you? Now you can remove the labels and increase the size of the icons with one setting. Open the Customize options as described above and tap the Large button.

Make the home screen icons larger and hide the app labels.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

After making any of these changes, tap anywhere on the screen to apply them and exit the Customize interface.

Change up how the Control Center looks

Control Center was once a convenient place to quickly access controls such as playback volume and Airplane mode but under iOS 18 it’s a configurable playground. You can position controls where you want, resize many to reveal more information and add new controls on multiple screens.

Swipe down from the top-right corner to reveal the Control Center (or swipe up from the bottom on the iPhone SE). To enter edit mode, touch and hold or press the + button at the top-left corner.

Just as with moving apps, drag a control to another slot on the screen to reposition it. Many of the controls also include a bottom-right handle that can resize the control — in most cases, it reveals the name of the control and its current status (such as Flashlight Off).

Rearrange the controls in Control Center and, for some, expand them to reveal more information (or just make the button a larger target for pressing).

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Control Center also now spans multiple screens. Swipe up to view controls for media currently playing, Home controls for smart lights and appliances and a page dedicated to the communication options that appear when you long-press the Connectivity block containing Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Cellular and others. Look closely and you’ll see that those screens are actually individual controls expanded to occupy the entire Control Center area.

You can rearrange the order of those screens by moving their controls. Suppose you want Home controls to be the first swipe instead of Now Playing: In the editing mode, drag the large Home control up to the previous screen (Now Playing will shift to the right to make room).

Some controls get their own screens, such as Home. Normally it’s on the third screen, but here it’s been moved to the second screen.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

To remove controls, tap the – (minus) button that appears. You can also add other controls: Tap Add a Control and scroll through the available options ranging from starting a Screen Recording to a host of accessibility options.

Read more: All the new controls you can add to Control Center

Lock or hide any of your sensitive apps

Our phones carry some of our most sensitive data and yet it’s not uncommon to hand a phone to a friend to view photos or look up something online. That doesn’t mean they’re going to snoop but it doesn’t not mean they might be more curious than you’re comfortable with. For data you want to ensure stays out of sight or to add a layer of protection in front of sensitive information, iOS 18 adds the ability to lock and hide apps.

For example, let’s say you keep an ongoing set of lists of gift ideas for family members in the Notes app. You can lock individual notes, but that requires a separate step. Maybe a few ideas were made as individual quick notes or drawings. Instead of micromanaging access, you can lock the entire Notes app by doing the following:

Touch and hold the app icon you want to lock and choose Require Face ID or Require Touch ID (or Require Passcode if Face ID or Touch ID are not enabled) from the menu that appears. Confirm your choice by tapping Require Face ID (or similar) in the next dialog.

Lock individual apps.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

To remove the authentication step, touch and hold the app and choose Don’t Require Face ID (or similar).

Nothing outwardly indicates that an app is locked — you’ll find out when you try to open it. There’s one more level of app security available, which is to hide apps in a special locked folder. Touch and hold the app and choose Require Face ID and then tap Hide and Require Face ID in the dialog. Confirm the action by tapping Hide App on the next screen.

The app disappears from the home screen and gets slotted into a Hidden folder at the bottom of the App Library (swipe left beyond your last home screen to view the App Library). To access apps there, tap the Hidden folder and authenticate with Face ID.

When you choose Hide and Require Face ID to protect an app, it gets put into the Hidden folder in App Library (top). Tap the folder and authenticate to access the app (bottom).

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

iOS 18 imposes some limitations on hidden apps. Some, such as many of the built-in ones like Notes or Reminders, can only be locked and cannot be hidden at all. Also, the Hidden folder locks itself when you launch an app or swipe away from the App Library.

Turn off Loop Videos in the Photos app

Many apps have implemented a small but annoying (to me) feature, and now Photos under iOS 18.2 has it too: Videos automatically replay when you watch them until you tap the Pause button. That can be fun once or twice, or when viewing short clips. I’m not a fan of having to take action to make them stop each time.

Now I can take action once. Go to Settings > Photos, scroll down until you see Loop Videos and turn the option off. A video will play on its own but then stop at the end as it should.

Turn off Loop Videos to stop every video from replaying automatically.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

If you’d rather the video didn’t play at all until you tap the Play button, also turn off Auto-Play Motion in the same Settings screen.

Adjust the view of your calendar

Big new features like locking and hiding apps are great additions but so are the tiny changes that you encounter every day. The Calendar app includes two new ways to view your schedule.

In iOS 18, when you’re in the Month view in portrait orientation, pinch with two fingers to view more or fewer details. As you “zoom in,” individual events appear as colored bars and then as labeled events with times, all while keeping the monthly grid of days and weeks.

In the Calendar app’s Month view, pinch to zoom in and see more details.

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

The Day view, which breaks down your day hour by hour, now has a new Multi Day view that shows two consecutive days to give you context for what’s coming without turning the phone into landscape orientation and viewing the Week view. Tap the View button at the top of the Single Day view and choose Multi Day from the popup menu.

The new Multi Day view in the Calendar shows two days at once (right).

Screenshots by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Improve movie and TV show dialogue in the TV app

Trouble hearing dialogue in movies and television shows isn’t a new problem — for example, the Apple TV has had a feature for a while where you can ask Siri, “What did she say?” and it will automatically back up a few seconds, turn on subtitles and replay that section of the video. You can even buy soundbars that can overcome muffled TV speech. There are a lot of reasons it’s harder to hear dialogue but the TV app in iOS 18 includes a high-tech workaround to make dialog easier to discern.

While you’re watching a video in the TV app, tap the More (…) button and then expand the Audio heading in the menu that appears; if the phone is in horizontal orientation, tap the Audio Adjustments button. Tap Enhance Dialogue and choose Enhance or Boost. They each dampen background noise and raise the dialogue’s audio.

Turn on Enhance Dialogue in the TV app to discern characters’ speech better in noisy scenes.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

These are just a few new features and changes in iOS 18. Check out our broader coverage of Apple Intelligence, more impressions of the system after using it for months and how these all work together with the iPhone 16 models.

Apple’s iPhone 16, 16 Plus Show Off Bolder Colors and Buttons

See all photos

Source link

June 21, 2025 0 comments

Game Updates

FBC: Firebreak: 4 Essential Tips

by admin June 19, 2025

While we’re all waiting for Control 2, Remedy Games has released a multiplayer-focused game set in its universe, FBC: Firebreak. This game has a much wackier tone than Control. Whereas Control had protagonist Jesse Faden explore the psychological and supernatural elements of the Oldest House, here you and some friends play as a bunch of no-name workers in FBC: Firebreak tasked with responding to emergencies and clearing out enemies called the Hiss while fixing up various contraptions.

This Stylish Noir-Punk Side-Scroller Is Like Celeste With Guns

Together, a squad of three must tackle the game’s various objectives and level up skills to rise through the ranks. Here are some tips to complete the tasks on your to-do list and impress your boss.

Avoid playing solo

FBC: Firebreak surprisingly has quite a lot in common with Elden Ring Nightreign. You can play in squads up to three, and both games really encourage communication and coordination. They both even have no in-game voice chat! FBC: Firebreak at least has cross-platform play, though.

While the game can be played solo, it’s much more fun with other players at your side. It can be very difficult to complete certain tasks like fixing machines and fighting off enemies simultaneously. Having teammates means that you can also diversify and synergize the different abilities that the game’s Crisis Kits offer, leading to faster and successful outcomes

Going solo means you’re much more likely to just get downed. Speaking of being downed, your teammates can revive you and you won’t have to waste a life by respawning if you were playing solo.

Familiarize yourself with the Crisis Kits

Crisis Kits are Firebreak’s form of classes. So far, there are three: Fix, Jump, and Splash.

The Fix Kit is a close-range melee fighting specialist who comes equipped with a giant wrench and shotgun to fight off enemies. The wrench does a pathetic amount of damage, but it can be used to fix machines with a wrench icon like showers and skip a mini-game. Fix Kits also come with a turret and the AI16 Piggy Altered Augment that conjures up a coin twister to hit enemies.

The Jump Kit focuses more on enemy crowd control and management. Its giant Electro-Kinetic Charge Impactor lets it quickly jump start certain machines such as showers and ammo closets that can help your teammates in a pinch. This Crisis Kit comes with a boombox that draws in enemies before blowing up, as well as the AI19 Garden Gnome Altered Augment that calls forth bolts of lightning to rain down on enemies.

Screenshot: Remedy / George Yang / Kotaku

The Splash Kit plays more like a typical support class with its water-based abilities. The Crank-Operated Fluidic Ejector can rinse teammates and get rid of negative status effects like fire. It can also inflict the “wet” status effect on enemies, which synergizes incredibly well with Jump Kits and their ability to shock them with the Electro-Kinetic Charge. This Kit also carries the AI44 Teapot Altered Augment that heats up water and fires them at enemies, scalding them for extra damage.

Familiarize yourself with the different Job Sites

So far, the game has five different Job Sites. Each contains their own unique settings and objectives. Knowing which job you’re taking on can inform what kind of Kits to bring along to efficiently finish your tasks.

Screenshot: Remedy / George Yang / Kotaku

Hot Fix has your squad fixing fans and making sure the furnace doesn’t burn the entire place down. Paper Chase requires your squad to destroy a bunch of sticky notes scattered throughout the entire area. The Splash Kit does wonders in both sites, as the former will be VERY hot and you’ll likely suffer from burns, which a Splash Kit can help relieve. In the latter, Splash Kits can make the sticky notes wet, and the Jump Kit can destroy them by shocking them.

Ground Control is much more straightforward, where you’ll just have to kill a bunch of insects to drop their pearls, which then need to be transferred. Frequency Shift is also quite straightforward. Pink goo has infested the entire area and your teammates must get rid of it. However, you have to be careful as the goo can explode and hurt you.

The final Job Site is Freezer Duty, which sees your squad turning on heaters to melt down the ice covering the area. In particular, the Jump Kit is helpful here as it can quickly jump start the heaters.

Collect Research Samples and Lost Assets regularly

Throughout various Job Sites, you’ll come across Lost Assets and Research Samples around the area, especially on the ground. You’ll want to pick them up, as they’re needed to unlock perks and upgrade your tools.

Lost Assets look like stationary, such as clipboards, paper, and folders, while Research Samples usually look like piles of colored powder. This is the game’s form of permanent progression as you prepare to tackle harder difficulties and continue through higher Clearance, Threat, and Corruption levels.

Screenshot: Remedy / George Yang / Kotaku

Lost Assets can be found at any of the Job Sites, but specific Research Samples can only be found at certain Job Sites. Additionally, you’ll need to turn on at least one level of Corruption for any Research Samples to show up at all.

Hot Fix has Whispering Ash samples
Paper Chase has Viscous Strip samples
Ground Control has Achromatic Sand samples
Frequency Shift has Resonant Glob samples
Freezer Duty has Numbed Splinters samples

Make sure to actually finish the Job and extract from the elevator after your objective is done, as you won’t be able to take anything with you if you fail the entire mission.

FBC: Firebreak is now available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

Source link

June 19, 2025 0 comments

Game Reviews

3 Essential Tips For Complex Construction Projects

by admin June 17, 2025

RoadCraft isn’t the type of game you just pick up on a whim. It’s a hardcore simulator with realistic physics and mud mechanics, terrain and elevation considerations, and vehicles that maneuver like a tank from World War I in the French countryside. But hey, we’re all new to the genre at one point or another, and to ensure your vehicle doesn’t lock up mid-delivery, I’ve gathered a few tips from my playtime for RoadCraft. Enjoy!

A Hot-Fix Is On The Way For MindsEye’s Frustrating CPR Mini-Game

Take full advantage of AWD and other tools

Screenshot: Saber Interactive

Immediately upon beginning your journey in RoadCraft, you’re gifted a series of vehicles, including your pickup truck, which is a versatile scout vehicle capable of not only getting you from point A to point B but also hauling in a pinch. It’s a tool ready to be used, and one that you shouldn’t ignore.

It’s equipped with All Wheel Drive (AWD), allowing you to traverse the muddy landscapes with relative ease. Unlike in previous titles, such as Snowrunner, AWD in RoadCraft doesn’t come with a cost. It’s completely free, and as such, you should have it active at all times to help you navigate!

Optimize your routes (or just cancel them)

Screenshot: Saber Interactive / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku

During the game’s prologue sequence, you’re taught to set a route to deliver goods and materials from your warehouse to the factory to build a flood wall. It sounds simple on paper, but reality is far from it. While it’s not overly hard to place the route itself, as you can plop down points, remove unwanted milestones, and follow the world’s roads and natural paths for easier navigation, it’s the AI that poses a problem.

To put it lightly, they’re dumb as the dirt you’re hauling. The AI, despite working for a company of this scale and complexity, tends to drive straight into ditches, trees, fences, gates, buildings, lakes, and other obstacles. If the truck becomes stuck, it ruins the entire route. Do yourself a favor and, at least for the first run, keep an eye on your vehicles as they follow the route. Examine where they slow, where they become stuck, etc. Then, fix it!

Don’t overlook the excess scrap

Screenshot: Saber Interactive / Brandon Morgan / Kotaku

As you complete objectives, you’ll note leftover materials lying around the game world. These come in various forms, such as containers, scrap heaps, and raw, individual materials. While it’s cumbersome to use the crane to load a truck, you don’t want to leave all of that scrap behind. It’s worthwhile!

RoadCraft heavily relies on construction projects to push the story forward, from bridges and roads to more complex tasks. All of these projects require raw materials, and if you’d like to save some money and time, use what the world provides you!

RoadCraft is available now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.

Source link

June 17, 2025 0 comments

Crypto Trends

NFTs are quietly shifting from speculative assets to essential digital infrastructure.

by admin June 10, 2025

Opinion by: Charu Sethi, president of Unique Network

Some argue that NFTs are dead. Others are holding out for the speculative art boom to return with the next market cycle. Both assumptions miss the reality. NFTs are neither obsolete nor poised for another speculative hype wave. What’s unfolding instead is likely the most important phase in their evolution: where NFTs are transitioning into core digital infrastructure underpinning gaming, AI and machine-driven applications.

The market has evolved

There are clear signs that NFT utility is replacing speculation, and the trend is holding. According to DappRadar, in Q1 2025, NFT trading volume dropped 24%, but sales declined only by 10%, pointing to lower average prices rather than user exit. AI and social DApps — with the potential to leverage NFTs for agent identity, assets, credentials and access — grew sharply in Q1, and utility categories like real-world assets (RWAs), domain NFTs and metaverse assets showed sustained traction.

In gaming, platforms like Mythical and The Sandbox continue to grow, where in-game assets provide real, functional value. While there is still a vision and demand for interoperable NFTs, there are also examples where they are being delivered for developers and end-users.

NFTs in the agentic AI era

NFTs were originally conceived to enable verifiable digital ownership, identity and programmable rights — not speculative trading. It was meant to give people ownership of their digital lives. Be it their identity, health records, social media content or creative work — NFTs offered a way to prove ownership. That vision was foundational to the broader Web3 movement.

This foundational vision was obscured by the rise of memecoins and short-term financial hype, distorting public perception of NFTs and Web3. This core utility resurfaces as the agentic AI era emerges, where code meets cognition. Autonomous AI agents now require self-sovereign identity, memory and access control to operate effectively onchain.

With AI frameworks maturing, NFTs are becoming embedded as infrastructure. They function as identity anchors, verifiable data containers and access credentials for agents acting across decentralized environments. An NFT-bound agent can independently access services, sign transactions, and trigger contract logic — its authority validated by the NFT. This transforms NFTs into operational components that persist across contexts.

Recent: Crypto, NFTs are a lifeboat in the sinking fiat system: Finance Redefined

This utility is already in production. ReinforcedAI’s subnet on Bittensor issues NFTs as proof of completed Solidity audits, enabling encrypted validator review and decentralized reward mechanisms. Similarly, NFTs are used to certify input-output processes across AI pipelines. In parallel, projects like Peaq use “machine NFTs” to give devices like vehicles and drones identity and autonomy to transact. As AI agents integrate further into Web3 systems, NFTs will underpin workflows ranging from personal AI wallets to non-fungible autonomous agents.

UX-driven wallets and mainstream entry

The growth of social wallets is another driver. Instead of complex key management, users onboard through email or social login, and their profile pics, memberships and credentials (silently NFTs) display as part of their Web3 identity. Over 50% of users aged 18-34 already use social wallets regularly, especially in gaming and community apps.

These wallets prioritize user experience and easily embed NFTs into familiar interfaces. In social gaming platforms, for example, players may not even realize their avatars, emotes or achievements are NFTs. Yet these assets are portable, tradable and interoperable — acting as the connective tissue across platforms. There are significant lessons learned about how true ownership and great UX are critical for SocialFi apps to succeed.

NFTs as invisible infrastructure

NFTs are not disappearing — they are becoming core infrastructure, functioning as the underlying layer for asset ownership, transactional logic and autonomous agent behavior in decentralized systems. They support player-owned economies in gaming, serve as identity and credential containers for AI agents, and enable payments and access rights in machine-to-machine networks. This reflects a broader architectural shift from front-end collectibles to back-end components embedded in wallets, SDKs and protocols. NFTs now power access control, data provenance and interoperability, redefining their role from visible assets to essential system primitives.

Waiting for the return of the speculative NFT boom as a measure of success is misguided — real progress is unfolding at the infrastructure layer, where NFTs are quietly becoming essential.

Opinion by: Charu Sethi, president of Unique Network.

This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Source link

June 10, 2025 0 comments

Malware attack virus alert , malicious software infection , cyber security awareness training to protect business

Gaming Gear

Why hacking yourself first is essential for proactive cybersecurity

by admin June 2, 2025

In an increasingly complex cybersecurity landscape, the concept of “hacking yourself first” is not new as such. Organizations have long been engaging white hat hackers to simulate attacks and identify vulnerabilities before malicious actors can exploit them.

However, the traditional approach to red teaming, which typically involves selecting a few trusted individuals to test a system, is no longer sufficient.

Oscar Hayek

Social Links Navigation

Co-Founder & CTO of Innerworks.

More open and competitive red teaming

The issue lies in scale and diversity. A small, internal team will always be limited by their own experiences and perspectives, while cybercriminals operate in a global, decentralized environment. To stay ahead, security testing has to reflect that same breadth and depth of capability.

Traditional methods

The benefits of this approach are already being realized. In sectors such as fintech and Web3, attacks discovered through decentralized red teaming have been observed in the wild months later. This lead time allows businesses to prepare and adapt before those attacks gain traction in broader markets.

It’s important to recognize that decentralized red teaming is not about replacing traditional methods entirely. Conventional penetration testing still plays a valuable role in improving baseline security. But as threats evolve and attackers become more sophisticated, organizations need a more dynamic and scalable way to test their defenses.

Proactive security

Ultimately, the shift from reactive to proactive security cannot be achieved through periodic exercises alone. It requires continuous, adaptive engagement with the threat landscape, and a willingness to invite external expertise into the process. By embracing a more competitive and decentralized approach to red teaming, businesses can significantly improve their resilience and stay one step ahead of attackers.

Cybersecurity is no longer about responding to yesterday’s threats. It is about anticipating tomorrow’s, and making sure your defenses are ready today.

We feature the best business VPNs.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro’s Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

Source link

June 2, 2025 0 comments

Product Reviews

The Essential Linux commands that every user needs to know

by admin May 30, 2025

Linux runs on hardware as diverse as the Raspberry Pi and powerful supercomputers, making it a flexible choice of operating system. Linux can be used via a graphical user interface similar to Windows or macOS. Or it can be used via a powerful terminal / command line.

The command line interface provides you with a lot more control over the computer than you can get using the GUI. Many important tasks are easier, quicker or only possible via commands. That’s why, below we’ve listed the most important commands for navigating the file system, installing software, editing files and monitoring performance.

Opening a Terminal

(Image credit: Future)

To open a terminal from the desktop, you can either click on the Terminal icon found in the applications menu or hit CTRL+ ALT + T. Once open, you will see a black screen appear with a flashing prompt.

sudo – Super User Do

Many forms of Linux do not, by default or design, give you the admin privileges you need to perform some core tasks like installing software. This is done to make sure that the operating system is protected. However, by prefacing any command with the word “sudo,” you can have admin rights for that execution. To use “sudo,” you will have to be in the “sudoers” permission group, but the good news is that many Linux distros already put the main user in this group.

We can check if our user is in the sudoers group by running this command. Just swap for your username

groups

(Image credit: Future)

This shows that my user, les, is in the sudoers group.

To use sudo to upgrade your operating system, you’d type:

sudo apt upgrade

(Image credit: Future)

Navigating the Linux file system

Moving around the filesystem is something we take for granted in a desktop environment. But with the terminal we can do everything, and often with greater speed and precision. We just need to know the correct commands. If you don’t have permission to perform any of these actions on a particular file or directory, prefacing the command with sudo will probably let you, but think before doing so. There is no undo button.

We’ve got a full guide on the Linux file system, showing you what each directory is for.

pwd – Print working directory

This command will show the full path to the directory we are in, for example /home/les. It is a useful command to clearly show where we are in the filesystem. Typically our location forms part of the prompt, but with pwd we get a clearer indication of our location.

pwd

(Image credit: Future)

ls – List directory content

This command is used to list the contents of a directory. You may already be familiar with dir used in Windows and MS DOS.

You can use the command to list files in your current working directory.

(Image credit: Future)

We can also list the files in another directory, such as /var/log:

ls /var/log

(Image credit: Future)

See hidden files and directories, in a long list with extra details.

ls -lha

(Image credit: Future)

List all files of a certain type, for example .py Python files.

ls *py

(Image credit: Future)

cd – Change directory

Using cd, change directory we can move around the filesystem. For example to move from our home directory to Downloads

cd Downloads

(Image credit: Future)

Move to a directory in another part of the filesystem, for example /var/log.

cd /var/log

(Image credit: Future)

Go back to the previous directory that we were in.

cd –

(Image credit: Future)

Go back to our home directory.

cd ~

(Image credit: Future)

Working with files

Sometimes we need to take a peek inside a file, look for a specific command, error or bug and with these commands we can do just that all from the terminal.

cat – Print files to the terminal

With cat we can print the contents of a file to the terminal, for example a Python file.

cat test.py

(Image credit: Future)

Print contents of the file to the terminal with line numbers. Useful when debugging a file, and you need to tell a colleague exactly where to find the issue.

cat -n test.py

(Image credit: Future)

less – Print files to the terminal

The less command will print the contents of a file in sections and we can scroll through the file using the arrow keys, Page Up / Down and Home / End.

less /var/log/syslog

(Image credit: Future)

grep – Looking inside a file

To search inside a file for a specific word / section of text. Typically used with log files when looking for issues. In this example we use lscpu to print the details of the CPU which is passed via a pipe | to grep which we instruct to look for “MHz”.

lscpu | grep “MHz”

(Image credit: Future)

Edit a file

For when you quickly need to edit a config file, Python code or just write a to do list. Yes, there are many different text editors for the terminal, nano, Vi, Vim etc. But for this how to, we will stick with nano.

nano

Nano is the easiest command-line editor for beginners.

Create a new file, for example newfile.txt.

If the file doesn’t exist, the command will create it. If it exists, it will open the file.

nano newfile.txt

(Image credit: Future)

Edit an existing file, for example test.py.

nano test.py

(Image credit: Future)

Inside nano we navigate using the arrow keys and it works just like a regular text editor.

To save your work press CTRL + O, then confirm the filename. Finally, press Enter

To exit nano, press CTRL + X.

System Resources & Management

Managing our operating system and checking system resources is standard practice for system administrators. Here we show a few commands that will show you key details at a glance.

htop – Display system processes

Shows the current CPU load, RAM usage and running system processes. Useful for closing non responsive applications and seeing which processes are bottlenecking your system.

htop

(Image credit: Future)

free – Show amount of free and used RAM

Free will tell us how much RAM is in use, and what is free for applications. Using the -m option we can set the values in Megabytes. By default, free will show the values in KB.

free -m

(Image credit: Future)

dmesg – Monitor kernel events

The kernel is the core of the operating system and with dmesg we can see what events are happening behind the scenes. Useful for debugging issues with devices. You will need to run the command using sudo, otherwise you will not have access to all of the data.

sudo dmesg

(Image credit: Future)

File Management

Moving, deleting, copying and creating new files and directories are some of the most basic actions that we need to do. All of this, and much more is possible via the terminal.

mv – Move / rename a file

This command offers two functions. We can move a file from one location to another. For example here we move test.py to the Documents directory.

mv test.py Documents/

(Image credit: Future)

The command can also be used to rename a file or directory. Here we rename test.py to test2.py.

mv test.py test2.py

(Image credit: Future)

rm – Delete a file

With this command we can delete files and directories. In this example we delete the file test.py.

rm test.py

(Image credit: Future)

cp – Copy a file

To copy a file, for example test.py to our Documents directory.

cp test.py Documents/

(Image credit: Future)

To copy a directory, for example /home/pi/test2 to /home/pi/Documents/ we need to use the -r option to copy everything across.

cp -r test2/ Documents/

(Image credit: Future)

mkdir – Create a directory

Create a new directory to store work. For example let’s create a directory called Work in our home directory.

mkdir Work

(Image credit: Future)

Software Installation

Just like any computer we need to make sure that our software is up to date and on our Linux machine the tool to do just that is called apt.

apt – Install and manage software on Debian and Ubuntu based systems

Apt, the Advanced Packaging Tool. The app store of Debian and Ubuntu flavors of Linux. To use apt we will need to use sudo as it will make changes to the operating system.

First we update the list of installable software.

sudo apt update

(Image credit: Future)

Then we can install a specific application, for example to install vlc.

sudo apt install vlc

(Image credit: Future)

Or we can upgrade all of the software on our system. Note that for this command we pass the -y option to automatically agree to install every package. But this is optional and if you prefer, you can omit the -y and be prompted for confirmation.

sudo apt upgrade -y

(Image credit: Future)

Network Connectivity & Internet

Checking that your Linux machine is connected to the Internet is a basic yet crucial task. It enables us to debug our servers, watch YouTube videos, and get work done.

ping – Check that we are connected

The ping command is used to test that our Linux machine is connected to the Internet / home network.

We can send a ping to a website.

ping google.com

(Image credit: Future)

Or to an IP address such as Google’s DNS server.

ping 8.8.8.8

(Image credit: Future)

Or for internal connectivity checks we can send a ping to devices on our home network. This example assumes that our IP range is 192.168.1.114 but your range may be different.

ping 192.168.1.114

hostname – Get the IP address of your Linux device

The easiest way to find the IP address of our Linux machine is using hostname with the -I (uppercase i) which will show all IP addresses (Wi-Fi and Ethernet)

hostname -I

(Image credit: Future)

Curl – Transfer data over a network

With this command we can transfer a file to and from our Linux machine. For example if we wanted to download an image from a website we would use curl along with the -o option to create a file named image.jpg.

Note, curl may not be installed on your system, so you may need to install using sudo apt install curl

curl http://link-to-theimage.com/image.jpg -o image.jpg

(Image credit: Future)

The curl command is particularly useful for downloading installation scripts to automatically install add on boards. But it should be used with caution and any code reviewed before it is used.

Time Savers

The Linux terminal has many secrets and tricks, all designed to save you time and become a keyboard ninja.

history

The history command will display the history of the commands entered in the terminal. When used it will output all of the commands at once as a long list.

history

(Image credit: Future)

At the start of each line in the list is a number and we can use this number to run that command once again. But we must precede the number with an exclamation mark.

!117

history with grep

By using a pipe “|” with the history command we can send the output of history to grep where we can then search for specific commands. Here we look for all the occurences of “apt” in history.

history | grep “apt”

(Image credit: Future)

CTRL + R search

Using this we can interactively search through our command history for a specific command. To start we press CTRL + R together and then start typing part of the command. For example we have just used the history | grep “apt” command so we can now press CTRL + R and start typing history and the search will find that command.

TAB completion

Think of this as “auto complete” for the terminal. The TAB key is located just above the Caps Lock key and we can use TAB completion to help complete long commands, directory listings. If we type in the first few letters of a command, for example his and press TAB it will complete the command to show history.

But if we wanted to complete a long directory path, for example /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages then we could start typing /usr/lib/ and then press TAB to show us all the directories available along that path. We could then start typing python3 and by pressing TAB a few more times, the command will narrow down the options that we can use.

Arrow keys

Another way to search through your history is to use the up and down arrow keys. With these keys we can go backwards and forwards through our command history and when the correct command is displayed, press Enter to run.

alias

Using this command we can create shortcuts / short commands from much longer ones. For example here we create an alias called updater and use that to call two commands. The first will update our list of installable software, and if that works successfully, denoted by using “&&” to chain the commands together, then it will run the upgrade on our Linux machine.

alias updater=”sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y”

(Image credit: Future)

Now we can run our update command just by typing updater in the terminal. Note that once the Linux machine is switched off, this alias is deleted.

(Image credit: Future)

Source link

May 30, 2025 0 comments